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Confessions of a Sports Parent: The Scoreboard
As the holidays have come and gone, and most of us are back into our routines, it can only mean one thing…back to driving our kids all over creation to their respective sporting events. As a result, I thought it would be fun to resume writing about the random thoughts I sometimes have while sitting on a sideline as a parent. This week, I pondered a topic that always provokes heated debate among parents and organizations: the scoreboard. How important is it? What does it mean? Do you think it’s even needed? Is it the only thing needed? Like most things in our culture today, the two extremes rule the…
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Confessions of a Sports Parent: The Parent Zone
If you are anything like me, I sometimes lose sight of my boy’s childhood, which is flying by. We go from one season to the next, making it difficult to enjoy the time in front of us entirely. It is hard to stay in the moment and present, knowing the next game, season, or sport is approaching. That said, whenever I catch myself adrift from the moment, I approach each game or match with the end in sight. It sounds contradicting, but it has helped me stay in the present. One of the interior freedoms that occurs after mid-life is the ability to see things in a non-dualistic fashion. For…
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Confessions of a Sports Parent: Sports Wounds
(This is the second part of the series; it might be helpful to read the first here) We have all heard flight attendants tell adults and caregivers, especially parents, to apply their oxygen masks before helping others. The idea, of course, is that if you run out of oxygen yourself, you can’t help anyone else with theirs, especially children. That is a good image for me when I try to stay balanced as a sports parent. When I find myself out of balance, it usually happens when my old sports wounds, fears, or anxieties rear their ugly heads. I refer to these things as my shadows. Consequently, when I watch…
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Confessions of a Sports Parent: Sports Balance
We know there is no rule book for parents. We learn on the fly, and many cultural influences affect our decisions and values, not to mention our personal history, both positive and negative. Furthermore, for those of us who have children playing sports, the same premise exists…there isn’t a rule book, yet the same influences exist. Gone are the days of signing up at your local league and you play a season for just that team alone. The rise of travel and specialization has changed the landscape of youth sports. As a result, most of us are trying to navigate an ever-changing world of youth sports to ensure our children…
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Moments in Time: London (The Tube)
This week’s “moment in time” took us to London, England, during the evening rush hour, when we took the Piccadilly Line of the Tube. If you ever had the chance to experience this, you know immediately what I am talking about. You may even begin to sweat as you read it. I need a dram of whisky to write about it. Traveling on the Tube during rush hour can overwhelm you with sights and sounds, not to mention the overwhelming lack of personal space that can make your skin crawl to this day. (This was even before Covid.) Traveling as an American in Europe, you quickly realize that you unknowingly…
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Moments in Time: Dingle, Ireland
As many of us celebrated St. Patrick’s Day this week, we are on the Dingle Peninsula in southwest Ireland. Dingle is the largest town on the peninsula in County Kerry. The magnificent road that winds around the peninsula is called Slea Head Drive. A little side note: The westernmost part of the peninsula not only brings a spectacularly beautiful view of the rough surf of the Atlantic, but the islands off to the west are the closest part of mainland Ireland that you can get to the United States. A statue of the Cross is nestled in the rock just off the road. The scene from the crucifixion sits facing…
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Moments in Time: Glen Coe, Scotland (Highlands)
The winds were overwhelming but calming. The periods of rain were drenching but refreshing. The brisk air cut through your skin but awakened the very breath of your life. Standing in its midst was somehow a confrontation with truth beyond the ability to explain with my senses. Quite simply, it was one of the most mystical experiences of my life. Glencoe is nestled in the Scottish Highlands. It is about 100 miles or so from Edinburgh. If you leave from Edinburgh, as I did, you go through the lush greenery of the Scottish lowlands, passing many breathtaking lochs (lakes) and some picturesque towns. Stirling, for one, with its famous castle…
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Moments in Time: Helena, MT
This week’s “moment in time” takes us to Helena, Montana. The state capital of Montana, Helena, became known as the “Queen City of the Rockies” due to the boom of the 1864 gold strike. That said, baseball brings us to the beautiful city of Helena today—specifically, June 1996. We find ourselves at Kendrick Legion Field, home of the Milwaukee Brewers Rookie Ball Team at that time. I was a skinny 18-year-old boy playing for the Great Falls Dodgers, the Rookie Ball Team for the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was the opening night of the Pioneer League, and we had a road series against the Helena Brewers. Great Falls, Montana,…
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Moments in Time: Worb, Switzerland
This week’s “moment in time” takes us to Worb, Switzerland….specifically to a particular bench, one of my favorite places to sit and regain perspective. Worb is a small village southeast of the city of Bern. It was our home for 4 1/2 years while we lived in Switzerland. We loved it. We lived in a house that sat halfway up the “Worb Hill,” as we would often refer to it. Down the street sat the 13th-century Worb Schloss, Worb Castle. We stayed in the converted stable of the NeuSchloss, or the New Castle of Worb. Here is a fun fact about the Neuschloss: the Von Grafienrieds family has owned the…
