Why “you can be anything you want to be” may be the wrong advice
I took my 14 year old daughter to see Wicked at the Kennedy Center this week. What an incredible show. What an incredible message. Young people everywhere are walking away with the courage to take on the world. Tapping into the ‘something that’s changed within them.’ Why not throw off what holds them down? Defy […]
Dear USA Women’s National Soccer Team
What an amazing run! What an amazing final! What a heart-breaker! To a society that lives to compete, I say, “What competitors!” To a culture that prints t-shirts that say, “2nd place is the first loser,” I say, “No Way!” I loved watching and following it all. Hearing your heart, your team solidarity, your belief […]
Fairfax Area Basketball Coaches Getting a Look at Prospects
Kudos to Fairfax High School girl’s basketball coach Marcus Konde for taking the initiative to create the rising freshman summer basketball league. He was thinking outside the box to get around the restrictions on coaching out of season. He gets to see the up-and-coming talent and get his foot in the “recruiting” door that has been left so […]
Active Women:Poetry in Motion
There’s nothing more beautiful than a body in motion. Call me sexist or ageist, but especially if that body is young, fit and female. I just loved opening Tuesday’s Washington Post to not 1, not 2, but 3 large, full-color photos of young women in motion. Front page: 2 sisters running freely through the rough at […]
My sport is your sport’s punishment
Have you ever had a coach who makes you run laps when they’re mad at you? “You stink!Go run a lap!” These girls laugh at that coach. They love to run. They do it for fun, and for fitness. They run with their friends. They run for glory. They run to clear their minds. They […]
The Beautiful Game, Beautifully Played
How many of us have watched in amazement and disgust this week as Elizabeth Lambert of the University of New Mexico women’s soccer team assaulted players from Brigham Young University’s team? First, pulling a player down by her ponytail, then administering karate chops to the face of a player on a “tackle” and more. After […]
Simples ways to beat soccer burn out
Coaches: Give players the resources to cope with the stress of the game: help them focus on the task and what they CAN control (their game, their aggressiveness, their attitude) and not what they CAN’T control (game outcome, play of the other team, environment ) Be aware of outside stressors of your players. Connect personally […]
The key to youth sports success: compete don’t compare
Dear Fellow Sports Parent, What do you want your child to get from playing sports? Why do you sign him up? Drive him around? Go to his games? Cheer him on? Why do we go to the trouble? Because we want to give him the things that sport has to offer: healthy exercise, skill/coordination, confidence, […]