Keeping the Joy in Youth Sports

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Ken Krause

Administrator
Admin
May 7, 2008
3,911
113
Mundelein, IL
By now I’m sure many of you have seen this video (below) that went viral after last weekend (January 2019 for those reading this much later). It’s UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi scoring a perfect 10 on her floor routine during a competition. If you haven’t, stop right now and watch this video. You will be […]

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Nov 16, 2015
184
18
My son is a 4th grader and had his 1st basketball game on Saturday. We were lined up for the opening tip and i looked at him and he had the biggest smile on his face. He has grown up at the diamonds and the gym watching his big sisters play. I sat there and said to myself as his dad and coach that i never hope he loses that joy. I wish i would pulled out my phone and taken a picture.

Fast forward. tie game with 2 seconds left. The other team is at the FT line. I call him over to me with what i want him to do made or missed. He sprints across the gym with the biggest smile on his face and all i could do was smile back. I did give him the instructions and he hustled back to tell his teammates. The other team made the FT and we lost by 1. He still walked off the floor smiling and wanted to tell me how awesome his first basketball game was.

I tell the parents that this is a marathon and not a sprint. We were slow on transition defense 1 time because we had a kid hit a 3. the other 4 wanted to high five him and nobody got back. I smiled. We have been working on reading what the d does on a ball screen and how we react to that. Both the screener and the ball handler made the right read and a nice bounce pass to the screener for the layup. He missed the layup but we celebrated the read. We finished 2nd in the tourney based on strange tie breaker. IMO, we should have been first but we accepted that and celebrated how much fun we had and how much better we got that day.

There is only 1 championship that matters to me and thats the region championship to qualify for state when they are in high school. I know that i have a better chance of losing that in 4th grade than winning it. So we celebrate the small stuff and keep working to get better and enjoy the ride because its going to go fast
 
Apr 20, 2018
4,581
113
SoCal
Love it! I remember my DD after a long break (3 plus weeks without being on the dirt with her friends). She came over to me and said privately to me, "Dad, it feels so good to be back on the fields!" And I said, "Really?" and she said ,"Yeah , really." That was a good day.
 

Ken Krause

Administrator
Admin
May 7, 2008
3,911
113
Mundelein, IL
These are great stories. It is so much fun to see the kids just go out and enjoy the game for its own sake - no matter what game or sport or activity it is. And as a parent, there's nothing like the feeling of watching your daughter or son do something he/she loves.

Enjoy it now because you're right. It all goes by so fast.
 

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