I thought it was a pretty sad day. There were a lot of successes in there - 2 ND HS Soccer titles, 3 ND Boys State Swimming Titles, Numerous Summer soccer tournament championships, at least 3 indoor soccer titles. All 3 of the boys made some great friends and grew up while working well with others.
Frustrations? Too many to count. Great coaching? Lots. Bad coaching? Lots. I coached 12 years of BSL soccer, 3 summer soccer seasons, 5-6 baseball seasons. As fun as that all was for me, what I will miss most is seeing each of my sons on the pitch or the court or the field working hard whether they were winning or not, being good sports even when others were not.
I don't believe sports are the best (or only) way to engage kids in teamwork, or to socialize them, or to ease them in to "the real world" of winners and losers, but sports can do all of those things. But so do Boy Scouts or church groups or music groups. The reason I chose sports, and gave my sons those opportunities was not about being "winners" - it is about PLAY.
I don't mean play as in "play sports": but PLAY as in throw rocks into the ocean or build a snow fort "play." Opportunity to explore and find out what you enjoy and what interests you and what value to place on your time, and then to make friends and grow up being inventive and creative and just ...play.
What great memories from 3 fine young men.
Frustrations? Too many to count. Great coaching? Lots. Bad coaching? Lots. I coached 12 years of BSL soccer, 3 summer soccer seasons, 5-6 baseball seasons. As fun as that all was for me, what I will miss most is seeing each of my sons on the pitch or the court or the field working hard whether they were winning or not, being good sports even when others were not.
I don't believe sports are the best (or only) way to engage kids in teamwork, or to socialize them, or to ease them in to "the real world" of winners and losers, but sports can do all of those things. But so do Boy Scouts or church groups or music groups. The reason I chose sports, and gave my sons those opportunities was not about being "winners" - it is about PLAY.
I don't mean play as in "play sports": but PLAY as in throw rocks into the ocean or build a snow fort "play." Opportunity to explore and find out what you enjoy and what interests you and what value to place on your time, and then to make friends and grow up being inventive and creative and just ...play.
What great memories from 3 fine young men.
