Accountability

     J's ball hockey team lost 10 to 4 today. His team was in first place and the other team was winless. A kid on the other team scored seven goals. It was a monster effort. He worked his butt off fighting for the ball all game long. J's team's effort was weak at best.
     After the game I followed J's team into the dressing room to pick him up. The coach immediately launched into whining about how hard it is to compete when the other team's best kid is able to play 90% of the game because they only had eight players. Is this really what we want our kid's coaches to be? Apologists and excuse makers when the kids themselves haven't given a good effort? Personally I think the coach owes it to the kids to be honest with them. As a parent I put my kid in sports so they can get exercise and learn about a variety of things: being part of a team, competition, accountability, decision making, the value of hard work and practice and many more. This type of coaching helps with none of that.

Preseason

     Heard a great quote recently attributed to Emmitt Smith: "All men are created equal. Some work harder in preseason.". I think this is a great concept and I try hard to teach it to my children particularly my son where his sports are concerned. I tell him it's perfectly ok to play a sport recreationally. To show up once a week, play the game and let the chips fall where they may. However if you are going to complain about losing and you want to play better, win etc. it's all about how hard you work in between games. Despite what many in this world seem to believe you can't improve very much by complaining. You have to get up and do something. Practice, reflect, strategize, exercise, work on skills etc. depending on what it is you are trying to excel at. It's ok to dabble in something and just have fun with it. However if you are going to complain about your results do something about it. The time to do something about it is in preseason. For us everyday folk that means in between games, in the driveway or the basement gym when it would be easier to be watching TV, at work when others have slowed down and are spending the last hour of the day chatting, on Saturday afternoon when it would be more fun to be sitting around drinking beer etc. Work on your craft, work toward your goal and then you will beat the ones you started out equal to.   

Great Reaction From the Catcher

Some of you have probably heard me rant about "participation" medals, not keeping score in kid's sports etc. Frankly I think sports and competition are great tools for raising young people. That being said I LOVE the catcher's reaction to this home run. This is the type of passion sports should be played with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CmwMyQn5wg&feature=player_detailpage#t=42s

It's More Important To Be Kind Than To Be Right

     Yesterday a woman knocked on the door. The kids answered and she asked to speak to an adult. When I got there she started to pull some material out of her book. I have little patience for door to door people at the best of times let alone Sunday morning. I coldly told her I wasn't interested and shut the door. A few minutes later sitting on the couch Jason asks: "Dad why couldn't you have been nice to that woman and heard what she had to say?".......sometimes it takes a kid to re-adjust our values. It's more important to be kind than to be right. We shouldn't forget this because we're busy or tired or have our own petty grievances.