Every four years, the Summer Olympics come around. It usually enamors Americans to no end. This year was no different. Womens Gymnastics is one of those sports that draws in even the most traditional sports types like myself.
First of all, it's got more drama than a Tanya Harding reality show. This girl should be here and that girl deserves this and that team always gets favor from the judges, blah blah blah. So entering this Olympiad, the US "team" brought in 5 girls: Disgruntled World Champion (Jordan), Talented but Flighty (Gabby), Vault Queen (McKayla), My Parents Care More than Me (Aly), and the other one who never saw the floor (Kyla). After the team competition, where they won, I was like, "impressive, Disgruntled was amazing, Talented is talented, Vault Queen was incredible....they acted like a true team, win or lose this was a great team of women..."
For the most part, these "women" were great representatives for our country. Athletic, hard working, and full of energy. Except that fateful night. Vault Queen, McKayla Maroney, the reigning world champion in the vault had 2 vaults to win an Olympic Gold. Apparently I missed the "If you are a world champion, you automatically deserve the Gold" memo. Because this girl fell on her second vault and won the Silver Medal. Usually this is not a big deal - Americans finish second all the time. As a good American, we shake our head, shake our opponents hand and hopefully come back better the next time. Apparently McKayla missed that memo. She acted like a complete brat. She didn't congratulate the girl who (clearly) beat her and then proceeded to pout while on the podium. Thanks a lot Vault Queen, you just acted like that spoiled Russian princess Aliya Mustafina who shrugged off her coach/second father repeatedly after she repeatedly failed last week.
Other Olympic Commentary:
1. Oscar Pistorius - Double amputee and makes it to 400M final. Incredible. More incredible was the guy who won wanted to trade his bib for Oscar's. Enough said, best Olympic story in my memory.
2. 100 Meters - If this isn't the prime time event of the whole Summer Olympics...I don't know what is. Usain Bolt is indescribable. His buddy Johan Blake is incredible. The other Americans Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay are Olympic medalists and both ran it in 9.8 or less. I was witness to something incredible that night.
3. Gymnastic Coaches: the hugging and touching gets a little uncomfortable...like I'd like to know if they were moving into my neighborhood kind of uncomfortable.
4. Men's Hoops: I'm glad we are poised to win another Gold, but the notion that this team is better than the Dream Team is simply laughable.
5. Andy Murray: What a cool moment...watching him beat Fed (who just beat him at Wimbeldon) at Wimbledon for the Gold. Those 2 got very few player points and zero dollars for that match. Kudos to both for their time and great tennis.
Dot Dot Dot: Sanya Richards Ross, that woman won Gold and was the most gracious winner I've ever seen. The women's sand volleyballers who keep hugging after every point - yeah baby. Despite a couple winnable races, Michael Phelps was incredible. Ryan Lochte, not so much. The Dutch High Bar Gold Medal guy is the most athletic creature I've ever seen - CHECK THIS OUT. Kobe Bryant needs to watch this a couple times.
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Daddy Ball
As a youth sports coach for years, both as a non-parent coach and parent coach, I've learned a lot about the human condition. First, a volunteer non-parent coach is about the most loved, and most adored of all.
Nearly 20 years ago I coached my first youth sports team. I had zero knowledge, zero training and a ton of swagger. Probably the worst combination you could dream of for a youth sports coach. But the one thing I didn't have that parents with more experience and less zeal, was a child on the team.
By season's end, no matter the sport, no matter the level...I'd be showered with praise, gifts and most of all appreciation. During that tenure I coached the best of the best (future NFL, NHL, and college baseball players) and the worst of the worst (2-32, 4-20, and 0-11 teams with no hope). It didn't matter how good or how bad the teams we were, the kids and parents really appreciated what me and my buddies brought to their community.
Often times, I would coach with another dad or better yet coach against another dad. You could just see the look on the kid's faces when the dad coach would talk. It didn't matter what city, suburb, ability level or sport -- most kids would check out when "Daddy" would talk. I always remember thinking to myself "I'll be different, my kids teams will listen to me."
Well, that's a story for another day. Let's just say that whenever Z talks now, they're checking out faster than a gay employee at Chick Fil A.
A couple years ago, a friend of mine and I developed a term for Dad coaches that sign up to coach in order to gain their child added favor on the team. The term is Daddy Ball. Daddy Ball usually starts when their child is 8 or 9. The dad sees that little Johnny or Jenny is good, but if he coaches she may get even more playing time, touches, experience in that sport. No matter how you slice it, the Daddy Ball clause comes into play when the coach shows event the slightest favor to their child that is not warranted.
I would get blisters typing examples that I have seen in my tenure as a Coach. None directly involving my children negatively. For the most part, my kids have been treated more than fair by Parent Coaches.
For fun I wrote a quick quiz on how to spot Daddy Ball from the stands.
Daddy Ball Quiz: The following is a quiz to see if you can spot Daddy Ball in your association.
1. Youth Softball team has two pitchers pitching for a "B" team, both daughters of the coaches. While other "B" teams are pitching 8-9 girls and this team pitches only 2. Daddy Ball or Not Daddy Ball?
2. Best Player on the team is coaches kid. Kid plays QB and Middle LB. Team wins championship. Kid scores winning TD. Dad gives MVP trophy to a less deserving kid. Daddy Ball or Not Daddy Ball?
3. Kid is upper half of talent pool on team. Son plays SS, C and pitches way too long into games. Daddy Ball or Not Daddy Ball?
4. Dad is very hard on his kid - treats every other kid like fine China. Daddy Ball or Not Daddy Ball?
5. Dad uses daughter to show everyone how to do the drill in practice. Daddy Ball or Not Daddy Ball?
Okay, the quiz was not that hard. Being involved in youth sports is fun. It's fun for the kids and to some extent it can be a blast for the parents, too. The problem is some parents can only see through one lens and not the big picture. The big picture is kids are there to play a game. They know who the better kids are, they know who deserves to play where. Parents should do whatever it takes to stay out of the way. As a parent, do yourself a favor and look for a non-parent to coach your kids. That person has no agenda but to let the kids play. After a day or two of not getting to coach, the fun of watching Johnny or Jenny far outweighs the best Knute Rockne speech that no one is listening to.
Nearly 20 years ago I coached my first youth sports team. I had zero knowledge, zero training and a ton of swagger. Probably the worst combination you could dream of for a youth sports coach. But the one thing I didn't have that parents with more experience and less zeal, was a child on the team.
By season's end, no matter the sport, no matter the level...I'd be showered with praise, gifts and most of all appreciation. During that tenure I coached the best of the best (future NFL, NHL, and college baseball players) and the worst of the worst (2-32, 4-20, and 0-11 teams with no hope). It didn't matter how good or how bad the teams we were, the kids and parents really appreciated what me and my buddies brought to their community.
Often times, I would coach with another dad or better yet coach against another dad. You could just see the look on the kid's faces when the dad coach would talk. It didn't matter what city, suburb, ability level or sport -- most kids would check out when "Daddy" would talk. I always remember thinking to myself "I'll be different, my kids teams will listen to me."
Well, that's a story for another day. Let's just say that whenever Z talks now, they're checking out faster than a gay employee at Chick Fil A.
A couple years ago, a friend of mine and I developed a term for Dad coaches that sign up to coach in order to gain their child added favor on the team. The term is Daddy Ball. Daddy Ball usually starts when their child is 8 or 9. The dad sees that little Johnny or Jenny is good, but if he coaches she may get even more playing time, touches, experience in that sport. No matter how you slice it, the Daddy Ball clause comes into play when the coach shows event the slightest favor to their child that is not warranted.
I would get blisters typing examples that I have seen in my tenure as a Coach. None directly involving my children negatively. For the most part, my kids have been treated more than fair by Parent Coaches.
For fun I wrote a quick quiz on how to spot Daddy Ball from the stands.
Daddy Ball Quiz: The following is a quiz to see if you can spot Daddy Ball in your association.
1. Youth Softball team has two pitchers pitching for a "B" team, both daughters of the coaches. While other "B" teams are pitching 8-9 girls and this team pitches only 2. Daddy Ball or Not Daddy Ball?
2. Best Player on the team is coaches kid. Kid plays QB and Middle LB. Team wins championship. Kid scores winning TD. Dad gives MVP trophy to a less deserving kid. Daddy Ball or Not Daddy Ball?
3. Kid is upper half of talent pool on team. Son plays SS, C and pitches way too long into games. Daddy Ball or Not Daddy Ball?
4. Dad is very hard on his kid - treats every other kid like fine China. Daddy Ball or Not Daddy Ball?
5. Dad uses daughter to show everyone how to do the drill in practice. Daddy Ball or Not Daddy Ball?
Okay, the quiz was not that hard. Being involved in youth sports is fun. It's fun for the kids and to some extent it can be a blast for the parents, too. The problem is some parents can only see through one lens and not the big picture. The big picture is kids are there to play a game. They know who the better kids are, they know who deserves to play where. Parents should do whatever it takes to stay out of the way. As a parent, do yourself a favor and look for a non-parent to coach your kids. That person has no agenda but to let the kids play. After a day or two of not getting to coach, the fun of watching Johnny or Jenny far outweighs the best Knute Rockne speech that no one is listening to.
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