dearsportsmom.com

Move over, Gert Boyle (Columbia Sportswear’s version of one tough mother)! Whether you agree with Sarah Palin’s political stance or not, she gave one incredible speech last night…proving she is way overqualified to be just another snack shack mom.

And if you think that being a hockey mom doesn’t count as experience in the world of politics, then you haven’t experienced the politics of youth sports. After all, how did Little League get its reputation? How many kids have dropped out of organized sports because of “the politics?” Have you ever had to stand up to the ridiculous accusations of parents who take youth sports too seriously?

From personal family experience, I know that a coach of a winning team is a target that gets shot for being on top. Horrible things are said about coaches who know how to win, while no one attacks the losing coaches. What an interesting parallel this is to what is happening in the media with their treatment of Sarah Palin.

It’s time to celebrate the accomplishments of one of our own! You go, Hockey Mom!

If you have ever wondered whether your sports kid has the passion that makes all your sacrifices worthwhile, try this simple test:

Plan a vacation. Then sit back and let your children pack without your help, and watch what they put into their bags. If they don’t take their sports equipment, you might question how much they really enjoy playing their sport of “choice.”

If you find that they take their sport with them…lucky you! Enjoy the fun!

I was thrilled to watch my daughter play volleyball for FUN during her off season this summer when we spent a few days in beautiful Central Oregon.

 The kids are heading back to school. Now, here’s an assignment for you: Tell us about your summer vacation. Where did you go? What did your kids pack? Did you get to play?

Can’t wait to hear from you,

Laura

Sometimes I wonder if I have my priorities in the right order. I can’t count how many miles I’ve driven, how many hours I’ve sat in flimsy collapsible chairs and uncomfortable bleachers, or how much money I’ve spent – all for the opportunity to watch my kids play their sports.

Thanks to Michael Phelps, I don’t think I will question myself again. After winning his eighth Olympic gold medal, he was quoted by Karen Crouse of the New York Times News Service as saying:

 “I don’t even know what to feel right now,” Phelps said. “There’s so much emotion going on through my head and so much excitement. I kind of just want to see my mom.” 

What a message this sends parents! Why would I ever want to be anywhere else!?

I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve written. Time has a strange way of passing very quickly when we get busy with life. I remember reading a column in a newspaper several years ago written by a mother whose son had just graduated from high school. She asked, “How did eighteen years of days pass so quickly?” Now that my twins have just celebrated the same milestone, I ask myself the same question. I believe every mother experiences some days that feel like they will never end, while other days just fly by.

Our family is enjoying a break between sports seasons, and I am glad to be back at my blog space ready to connect with other sports moms again.

For now, I’d like to share with you one of my favorite movie quotes from way back in my college days. If you’ve seen Steve Martin’s movie, The Jerk, you can visualize the scene with me:

“Marie, are you awake? Good. You look so beautiful and peaceful, you almost look dead…I know we’ve only known each other four weeks and three days, but to me it seems like nine weeks and five days. The first day seemed like a week and the second day seemed like five days. And the third day seemed like a week again and the fourth day seemed like eight days. And the fifth day you went to see your mother and that seemed just like a day, and then you came back and later on the sixth day, in then evening, when we saw each other, that started seeming like two days, so in the evening it seemed like two days spilling over into the next day and that started seeming like four days, so at the end of the sixth day on into the seventh day, it seemed like a total of five days. And the sixth day seemed like a week and a half. I have it written down, but I can show it to you tomorrow if you want to see it. Anyway, I’ve decided that tomorrow, when the time is right, I’m going to ask you to marry me, if that’s o.k. with you. Just don’t say anything. (no answer) You’ve made me very happy.”

Whether you are winding down from a busy baseball/softball season or you are gearing up for football, take time to enjoy some fun-filled days of summer. If you can make each day feel like two days, you’ll double your fun!

Your sportsmom,

Laura

My high school class is celebrating our 30-year reunion this summer. Sadly, I learned this week that one of our classmates will not be attending. She passed away suddenly at home on Monday. We were not in the same group of close friends in high school, but I clearly remember her smile, her quiet nature, and her talent in art. 

An email from our high school alumnae organization shared the link to a myspace page created by her niece for people to share their memories of her Aunt Kathy. Her letter to her aunt is one of the most touching letters I’ve ever read, so I wanted to pass it along to others:

 dear aunt kathy,
i miss you so much already even though you only left monday. we may think that it is unfair that you had to leave but i know that god has a plan for all of us, in this case, he needed your help to change someone elses life. i know that uncle greg and brian loved you so much. i dont know what brian will do without you. you two were so close. living without a mom is so hard, i cant even imagine. but brian is strong and he has his dad and nearby family to help him through this whole situation. i hope that brian and uncle greg will not mourn too long over your passing and live their lives with you in their hearts, and i know that they will never forget you. we all love you so much! you will never die in our minds, your soul will live on forever in the hearts that love you and hold you dear.

please, everyone that reads this message, take this as a sign. a sign that your mom is amazing but wont be here forever. you never know when something unexpected will happen and god needs her more than you do. so this mothers day, do something extra special for her and do a little extra just to show how much you appreciate that she is around. god has a plan for all of us, all you have to do is listen to him and he will lead you down the right path.

i love you so much!
jojo <3

~Celebrate your sports mom with a Happy Mother’s Day!

 Laura

The local newspapers are giving deserved attention to the pitching staff of the OSU Beavers…but it’s still hard for me to read. I am happy for the success of some of the new players, but I am struggling with the fact that my son is on the DL right now. You see, after a long and difficult Pac-10 transfer from UW to OSU, he pitched two innings before straining his forearm, and he’s been working with the trainer ever since, trying to make his way back into the game. Fortunately, he is in the hands of wonderful coaches. We continue to hope that in time things will improve and he will be on the mound again challenging batters with a fastball that has some wicked movement and a curve ball that breaks late. It’s just hard to watch each week of the season slip by and wonder what the future brings.

Have any of you been through this? How did you manage? I just try to keep things in perspective and focus on the good stuff. (By the way, if you haven’t heard of it, I’d like to recommend the book Focus on the Good Stuff by Mike Robbins, former Stanford and MLB pitcher. Great food for thought.) So today, I will enjoy watching my younger son play with his high school team. There are only a few games left in this season. And, like Trace Adkins sings - You’re Gonna Miss This, I’m going to make sure I soak up every minute of the fun of sitting in the stands to cheer for my son. Then, I’ll look forward to celebrating my older son’s 21st birthday with him this weekend. Instead of being with OSU at WSU in Pullman, Washington, he’ll be home to celebrate. Maybe there is a silver lining in this cloud. But I have to admit, I’m ready for some sunshine.

Check out this feel-good story from the front page of The Oregonian today. It paints an inspiring picture of how some players can really shine in the world of sports.

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1209525916199200.xml&coll=7#continue

Ready for tomorrow’s game? It was so cold and wet and windy and… not very baseball friendly on Wednesday. I’m going to be remember to charge my battery-operated handwarmer this time!

If you look closely, you can see the snowflakes on the flowers! Is this baseball weather? I captured this snapshot on my walk through the Oregon State campus as the snow was quickly melting. I had some time to spare in the early morning hours before the regional tournament for the Columbia Empire Volleyball Association, so I enjoyed a quiet walk to a coffee shop just outside of campus. I just love making the most of those little, unplanned opportunities to feel like I’m on vacation. And I’m glad I was at OSU for my daughter’s volleyball tournament instead of my son’s baseball games. Although it felt like a refrigerator in the Truax Center, it was even colder outside. And it’s almost May!

Even if the weather doesn’t look like spring, there is a change in the air among sports parents right now. The shivering parents in the baseball stands are in the middle of their seasons and looking forward to some warmer days. There is plenty of baseball ahead. Some volleyball parents, on the other hand, are welcoming the end of the season soon. There is an interesting hum in the air - and it’s not from honeybees. As with any sports season, there seems to come a time when you feel ready for it to end. Time to move on to something else for a while.

The cold weather wasn’t the only thing that felt bitter during the weekend. That hum I heard was the sound of some parents and players venting their frustrations about situations involving coaches and other parents. It’s easy to get caught up in the conversations, and I found myself walking a fine line between listening and gossiping. Yes, there was the chaperone parent who did not show up at the hotel to do her job. And there were times when the coach was extra hard on some of the players. And there was the new girl on the team who seemed to be getting more than her share of playing time. These are definitely things that grab us and create an emotional response within us. It’s what I choose to do after I feel that grab within me that will take me one direction or another. I hope that words I shared with others helped to create understanding and did not add to the grumbling hum.

My focus was to keep in mind what truly mattered in each situation and how I could help my daughter learn to be a better player and teammate in the process. When the chaperone parent failed to show up, I was glad that I was able to spend the night at the hotel and take over the responsibilities. If the coach was a little too hard on a player, I tried to be understanding of what she was trying to accomplish and how she was trying to help the girls. (Also, I kept in mind that the words a player hears are not always the same as the words that have been spoken. I know my own kids don’t always hear exactly what I am saying. Do yours?) If playing time seemed to be unfair, I waited to see if it evened out throughout the weekend, and it did.

If it is snowing in April, then I can choose to make the most of the opportunity - take time to enjoy a walk in the crisp morning air, delight in the flowers along the way, and get a photo to share with you. This is the path I chose, and it took me to a quaint little coffee house that warmed my hands and my heart.

I never gave much thought to the expression “I’ll clear my calendar” until this week when my Palm desktop program surprised me with a completely blank calendar. I had gone to the kitchen to clean up after the morning rush to get the kids to school, and when I came back to my desk all events since 2005 were gone…vanished…nowhere to be found! Then in my efforts to resuscitate my lifeline to sanity, I ended up losing all the same valuable information on my handheld too. My calendar had died, and I have to admit I grieved a tiny bit for what I had lost.

Keeping track of the lives of six people, there was a lot of information on that calendar - lots of records that are handy to have when filling out college applications, doctors’ forms, and an occasional MLB draft information sheet. Funny thing is, the more I looked at that blank calendar, the more I started to like it. I started thinking about what life would be like if all my days were so open. I could just imagine all the fun, new things I would do. Where would I even start? Would I visit art museums? Take a gourmet cooking class? Go fishing? Do volunteer work? I could do whatever I want, whenever I want. How crazy is that?!

Then a sense of loneliness started to sneak up on me when I realized that, in a few short years, my calendar could be that empty. I know that when my kids are gone, I’ll experience what other moms have warned me will happen - my time will be filled with all kinds of new commitments. But it won’t be the same. My identity right now is “Mom.” My kids are my reason for getting up each day, and I’m loving it. Although some days it’s hard to keep up juggling the circus of a houseful of teenagers, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m not looking forward to empty calendar pages. Suddenly, I felt an eagerness to start filling in those calendar squares again with things like the high school baseball schedule, open gym times for volleyball, travel schedules for tournaments, driver’s tests, doctor’s exams, birthday celebrations, school holidays and final exam schedules.

But this time I might add something new. Maybe I’ll leave a few blank spaces just for me, for when I feel like exploring the places where my thoughts wandered when my calendar died. In the meantime, my first new entry is going to be a lunch date with some dear neighborhood friends. When I received the invitation, I was happy to reply that my calendar was completely clear! How about you? What would you do if you suddenly had your calendar cleared?