LLWS

I enjoy sports. Amateur sports are becoming more enjoyable. Individuals playing for their love of the game and not a paycheck, a reality television show, or a spot on Sports Center - they have more appeal. So the LLWS is an event I enjoy watching - except it use to be more. Kids use to be kids; you know they are not so young anymore - was a time watching these games, the kids appeared to have fun. There wasn't pouting, posturing, whining, head hanging - there was emotion, both sadness and joy - perhaps I have just become more cynical, or perhaps our youth are losing the chance to be young. I believe we should keep score at games. All of this pansy, "It doesn't matter who wins" nonsense makes me crazy. When they took dodge ball out of school, well that is just wrong - dodge ball is important! "Why" you ask? Well I'll tell ya - because life is a big game of dodge ball, so you might as well start learning how to play the game when you are young and it is still relatively safe. Oh sure, sometimes a kid gets a ball in the face and a bloody nose - big deal. A few bruises never hurt anyone. And yes, some kids get picked on, and some kids don't get picked at all - Resiliency, this is what our youth are missing - and dodge ball teaches you resiliency - keeping score at a soccer game is important. Do they really believe they kids don't know who is winning? Come on! Not keeping score sends the wrong message. "It doesn't matter if you win or lose." Heck ya it matters! It matters in soccer and in life. I don't believe one team should run up the score on another team - but if your better then why should you play down to your opponent. Kick their butt then back off. The whole dumbing down of our educational system is pathetic. Students cannot pass the test so they make the test easier. What good does that do? Make the kids work harder - and if they fail, for goodness sakes hold them back. Why don't we hold kids back anymore? Then they wonder why the HS dropout rate is so high. Well, duh, if I was 16 and could not understand what I was being taught, shoot, I would drop out too. Not all children mature at the same pace, some kids need more time - we owe it to them to give them more time. It is our responsibility to recognize the needs of the children - we are the adults. And that is another thing - Why don't parents teach their children to respect adults? All adults! When we grew up you spoke when spoken to. You said, "Yes Mam and no Sir." There is nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with teaching children respect for others. It is not OK to pick on the kid who can't afford designer sneakers, or the kid who is not able to bathe everyday - it is not OK to talk back to the teacher, the cafeteria worker, or the cashier at Wal Mart. Anyway, the kids playing in the LLWS - I have to say it, and I don't want to - but the truth is the truth - The children from the international teams played with more integrity, enthusiasm and respect than the teams from the United States. That stinks! Not because the international teams were well managed, well behaved, and appeared more genuine in their enthusiasm- No, it stinks that the teams from the United States whined, hung their heads, or postured, and bragged - they showed neither grace nor sportsmanship in winning or losing. Of course I know this is not true of every child on every team - The team from Conn. - they were getting walloped, when the center fielder made a great catch - the whole team jumped for joy - it was a great catch, it didn't matter the score was 23 - 0. Today the pitcher from Texas, how he just got on my nerves. His head down, pouting - then when the coach said something the kid blamed the catcher - Dude, the catcher is not throwing the ball and the catcher is not hitting the ball - The coach had to coddle this kid - PLEASE - he should have taken his sullen butt out of the game - better to lose with grace than to lose with, I don't even know the word for it - but it was disgraceful. If I was that boys' parents I would be ashamed. It is true of the professional athletes - Did you know after the Olympics a few years back when Carmelo Anthony acted like a two year old his mother called him out. That's right, his mother. She told him to grow up and act like a man. You know what else, Carmelo's game improved and his team improved - and though he still has moments - he really is a lot more fun to watch. Besides, your making a gazillion dollars to play a game from a gift God gave you - what do you have to kick the dirt about? I am a competitive soul. When I was coaching I really had to check myself - as a coach I had to motivate my team and sometimes I had to check them. One time, during a practice, when they were not attending to the drills - I walked off the field and got on the bus. Puzzled, they stopped, looked around then followed me to the bus - We sat on the bus for a spell. I then asked them if they were ready to get to work - convinced by their response we got back at it. Won four consecutive NPS titles - Many coaches from other teams would not shake my hand - I was a woman and my team kicked their teams butt - One of my Assistants called a coach on the carpet, or turf as it were - How silly is that? Not my fault I had some really talented kids, some superlative assistants, and an understanding of how to teach kids like they were kids - We were not in the pros and it wasn't HS football on Friday Night Lights and I was not vicariously living through my players. Egos, yuck! You have to have self esteem, and thick skin to get through life - egomaniacs, oh they just burn my hide. Go ahead read your own press clippings - I'll take the little engine that could or that ant who got up the hill. My team did not whine. Whining got you time on the pine. Effort, try your best - follow the plan - support each other - everything out of your mouth must be positive or constructive in a positive manner - I coached a middle school basketball team - girls - girls are harder to coach than boys - the first season we did not win a game. Those girls though, they played their hearts out every minute of every game. We were getting our butts kicked game in and game out. The girls, they just kept playing. They followed the plan, the supported each other, they remained positive. It was a long season. You know what happened? The next year we did not lose a game. Same girls, a little older and a little more coordinated - What was the difference? Shoot I don't know. Time together I guess, they practiced over the summer - the light bulb went on - Really I don't know the difference - what I do know is they were the same girls who followed the plan, supported one another, and kept trying. Too bad we don't get a plan book for life. That would be helpful. Which brings us back to dodge ball. Sometimes, in life all we are doing is trying to see the ball and get the heck out of the way; Sometimes the ball hits us right in the nose and it hurts like heck. (seriously doesn't it hurt like heck when you get hit in the nose?) Sometimes we get picked and sometimes we don't - but we move forward or get back in line - we keep going. Life is a game of dodge ball - we need to let children learn how to play dodge ball when they are young so they will have built up their skill level and their level of resiliency for growing up. Life requires us to have a lot of resiliency - Dodge ball is important! Let's start a petition to get dodge ball reinstated in our schools - are ya' with me?