Back to School and other

This week the kids come back to school in most of the Peoria area. It is always a hectic week as we get back into the school routine. It will be especially challenging for our family as our daughter has had her driver's license for about a month. We will have about three different things going on and two cars to get us there so I see plenty of logistics ahead for our family. As I sit on the front porch there is a knock-out game of Basketball going on in our driveway. It seems that the kids always sense that school is close at hand and they have only a few treasured nights of play left.
Today I did my annual talk to the JFL Football Coaches of Central Illinois. I have spoke for the last 13 years to this group of adults who are about to embark on a season of coaching young kids in the great game of Football for the upcoming Fall. I enjoy this very brief time with these people. They always have me talk to first year coaches. I try to expound to them the importance of making Football a positive experience. I truly hope that they realize the crucial time that they are dealing with these young people and the game of Football. A youngster can have a great experience, or a horrific experience at that age. It was kind of a bad thing that I walked into the meeting before mine and they were doing a exercise on sportsmanship and not running the score up, etc.. They gave the coaches a scenario where a team was continuously on-side kicking and was putting a pretty good whipping on a team. When asked about this most of the coaches felt that this was ok and it was the other teams job to adjust and react. In my mind I thought; "is the game being properly taught if we continuously on-side kick?". I sure wish there could be a system where kids do learn the game of Football and the adults egos are still satisfied.
This Friday is also always a big night as it is the inter-squad scrimmage for most high school teams. This gives the coaches a chance for their kids to perform under the lights and hopefully get some of the pre-game jitters experienced so opening night is perhaps not so daunting. I enjoy this tremendously. It is a good warm-up for Friday nights to come. I truly experience the whole Football experience in the Autumn. High school Football on Friday, college on Saturdays followed by the NFL on Sundays. My weight usually sky rockets as I indulge in a lot of snacks and tailgating while watching this. Thursday night College Football is also a big hit if I can jam four nights of football watching into my schedule.
This realization that football is right around the corner makes the start of the school year much more bearable!

Parents

I know that it has been awhile since my last post. I have been back at work for two weeks now. As I sit and relax on this Friday night before our Softball team's first games tomorrow my thoughts turn to going to watch their first game at 8:30am.(Yawn!!!). I truly enjoy sitting in a lawn chair and enjoying kids playing ball.
This summer a lot of my time in a lawn chair was sitting enjoying my own sons Baseball games. It is one of the most excruciating things that an old coach can do. Even though the majority of my career was as a Football coach, I did coach some Baseball. The hardest thing in the world is to sit and not "morph" into a yeller. It is the one of the greatest challenges that I am sure that I will encounter as a dad. In retrospect, I should enjoy watching my kid progress and learn about the various sports that he participates in. It is only natural for you to want your kid to do as well as he possibly can. I can't think of a parent alive that doesn't feel that way. I do think that there is an awful fine line between wanting that success and then actually being embarrassed that your son, or daughter is not the best kid on their team, or on the field. I think in retrospect the best thing that you can do for your athletes is to be a constant encourager and to remain in an advisory role.
I have seen hundreds of parents who have hung on fences and paced and screamed tips and "coached" their kids from the sidelines. In essence, they were probably discouraging their son, or daughter from truly developing a love for the game that they started participating in for the true fun aspect. The toughest thing for a parent is to see their kid "fail". It is a bit of true compassion, but also a bit embarrassing.
Thus, many excuses come about. Many reasons why this may have happened. Many reasons why that happened. This transfers to the student-athlete when they get home, or worse yet, while mom, or dad are leaning over the dugout fence during the respective contest. Kids need to learn to accept responsibility. There will be failures! It's how you deal with those failures and what you do to get better that is the another great lesson learned from interscholastic competition. The best analogy that I can draw is that of the mother bird who pushes her young out of the nest teaching them to fail. Sometimes that needs to happen, eventually the bird and our young athlete will take-off and fly!
So, as we start another school year, enjoy your kids. Appreciate their coaches, appreciate their teammates and most of all appreciate that they are able to participate in games and learn lessons that will help them. They will fail. Be quick to offer them support and constructive suggestions, not excuses to overcome their mistakes. I am looking forward to a great fall and will stay in touch and share some of the things that I encounter along the way. Enjoy the games!!!