It's Good To Be Back
Last week was a great escape for our family. We enjoyed our time off and had a chance to recharge our batteries. Upon our return, like most families, we realized that we are staring down the face of the upcoming spring sports schedule!
Time to jump back into the chaos feet first! In preparing for our vacation last week, neither Carol or I even looked ahead to see what the schedule looked like when we got home. That was a mistake!
Evidently, while we were away the spring sports season started and we were completely unaware. While driving home from the airport, Carol glanced at the schedule for the upcoming week and we quickly realized that we have practices on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights after school. Then by some miracle, we have no games on Saturday, but we will be paying for that day off with 4 lacrosse games and a soccer game on Sunday.
It may sound like I am complaining about the chaos that is coming over the next several months, but rest assured that I cannot wait for it to get started. There is nothing that I enjoy more than watching my girls do the things that they love to do!
As this newsletter was coming together, I came across the video posted below. The video shows clips from several children talking about what their parents do during their games, and what they wish they would stop doing. It was a little eye-opening for me.
Admittedly, I tend to be vocal on the sidelines. Typically, I am simply cheering for and encouraging my daughters and their teammates. However, recently during one indoor lacrosse game, I was trying to get my daughter to move more to get open for a pass. I couldn't understand why she wasn't moving more to help her teammates. After this happened several times, I found myself getting frustrated.
After the game, I asked her if she could hear me yelling, and she said "Yeah, I heard you." I got a little more frustrated... then she continued to say "but coach told me to move to the wall and stand still so that other players could use that space to get open." At that moment, I realized that I needed to shut up and let the coaches coach. There is a reason that they are coaching and we are not. It can get really confusing for a 10-year-old to hear her coach, and also hear her parent telling her to do two different things. We can make it easier for our children to succeed if we only give them one voice to listen to...
I have a new goal for the upcoming spring sports season... Can you guess what it is?
Shut up and enjoy watching them play!
