Youth Track: Religious Gesture Disqualifies Winning Team

A religious gesture to "God" disqualified a winning relay track team at a Texas high school recently. The track team from Columbus High School (the Mighty Cardinals) won the 4 X 100m relay by 7 meters. The anchor leg runner, Derrick Hayes, made a simple "finger point to the sky". It was an impulsive action from a kid who was raised to thank God. The God gesture was not excessive in any way, yet it disqualified the team. The track officials deemed the gesture as an example of “excessive celebration.” which are against the rules. The track team will now miss out on the chance to compete at State level.



The Main Point

The official would not admit that the religious aspect of the gesture is what caused the disqualification. From all of the accounts I read, the gesture was not excessive at all, so it begs the question of whether the religious aspect was the reason. Who knows what he or she was thinking.

If the religious aspect was the reason than this is just another example of the progressive movement away from God and religion. Ok all you God hating Atheists - make your vacuous comments.

Youth Sports: Is God In or Out?

In Bremen, Georgia, local high school football fans would not be bullied by a Wisconsin-based Atheist group who filed a lawsuit to stop the pre-game prayer. The cash strapped school district could not fight the lawsuit, so they reluctantly agreed to ban the pre-game prayer. They are not the first school that had to succumb. The Bremen fans of both God and high school football, would not tolerate this, so together they stood up unified and said the Lord's Prayer before the start of the game anyway. The full story can be found on High School Football Fans Won't Fumble the Pre-game Prayer.


The Main Point

In Bremen, Geogria it looks like God is in, however God is under assault in this country. This was very evident at the Democratic National Convention this week.

This week,  a short 291 miles northeast of Bremen, Georgia, the Democrats gathered in North Carolina for their national convention. During the week, the Democratic platform was released. There were two very significant positions in the platform that created a swarm of negative publicity. Originally, the democrats omitted God from of the platform, a first, and changed their stance on Israel. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who has never been a close friend to the truth, call it a "technical error". Whether it was pure ideology, a technical error or lack of leadership, the platform pissed off Jews and Christians alike. It's not a good idea to piss off large groups of people before an election, so the Democrats changed the platform to include God and revert to their original position on Israel.

Unfortunately for the Democrats, this change required a vote of delegates to approve the amendments. The vote was very telling. The vote was an embarrassment to the democrats.

The shortsighted Democrats put themselves in a lose-lose situation. If they did not amend the platform, they would lose support from both Jews and Christians. If they voted on each amendment separately, they likely would have passed the God addition, but lost on the Israel situation. They need to Jewish vote especially in Florida, so the tied the two together hoped for the best.

 

There is an assault on religion in our country by radicals. A country without a religious core is doomed to fail. Thank God for the people of Bremen who stood up to the godless radicals. Thank God for the Democrats who stood up to party's radical element.  Now we need all Americans who believe in God to all stand up in unity to save this country just like the fine folks of Bremen, Ga.

Sorry for the political nature of this post, but I when I saw the Bremen high school prayer protest story after watching God be denied three times before the rooster crowed, I could not remain silent.

Youth Volleyball: Pre-Game Prayer

Wordless Wednesday

Pre-game Prayer

The Main Point

I wish all sporting events started with a prayer. Sadly, pre-game prayers are being banned in secular / public settings.

The terms "Prayer in Sports" or "Sports Prayers" searched on Google and other search portals consistently drives traffic to my site from all over the world. 

Youth Sports: Remembering the Days After 9 - 11

As I watched the Jets game last night and I was pleased by the sight of players running onto the field with American flags for pre-game introductions. The sight of this flooded my memories of the days following the 9 - 11 attacks.

It was September 16, 2001, the day after my birthday, a birthday that I was in no mood to celebrate. 


It was a typical Sunday in September for me in many ways. 


I got up around 6am. 


I watched the news. 


I made my game plan for the soccer game that would be played in the afternoon despite some calling for the league to postpone it like the NFL and MLB did.


I made scrambled eggs and bacon for my family.


We all went to church.


After Church, my son and I went to the hardware store and I bought 12 American Flags. 


We then went to the field. 


The players and parents starting assembling. 


The kids changed into their cleats while parents set up their folding chairs on the sidelines. 


The refs arrived.


We went through the normal warm up routine. 


About 10 minutes before the game, I called the team together. 


I handed each one of them a small American flag. 


I told them that the ref was going to call them to the circle in the middle of the field and they were expected to assemble on the circle alternating every other spot with their opponent.


I informed them that we would all observe a moment of silence with heads down and flags held high and proud. I told them all to run across the field after the moment of silence is done and give their flag to their mom or dad. 


One kid said, "Really coach, the other team doesn't have flags. I'm not doing that."


I told the malcontent kid, "you live in the greatest country in the world and the best thing about it is that you have the freedom to do basically what you want to do, so if you don't want to carry the flag that's ok. But, we all enjoy these freedoms and I have the freedom to sit your butt on the bench for the entire game and I will just that if you don't join your teammates at the center of the field."


The two teams assembled. My entire team held the flags high (some higher than others) and then the kids delivered the flags to their parents. 



The whistle blew.


The parents waved their flags. 


The game ended in a tie.


After the game, I realized that youth games were still going to be played, some kids were still going to be clueless punks and life, for the most part, was going to be normal again.

The Main Point

Thankfully God blessed us with sports in those days after the tragic events to unite us and to help us heal. We will never forget. God Bless America.

Youth Sports: Live to Play

To succeed at youth sports your kid needs skills, dedication, fearlessness, an opportunity and some good coaching. Oh yeah I almost forgot the most important part. your kid needs to exist. I am always fascinated by all the things that needed to happen throughout history for my kids to be born.

My wife's grandfather, Leroy is 97 and I love to visit him because he is a terrific story teller. Every time we talk to him we seem to hear stories about lust for adventure and a couple near death experiences.

Today he told us about the house he grew up in on the Detroit river, the river that connects Lake Erie with Lake St. Clair. Leroy used to ice skate on the river when it froze over. One day skating alone he fell through the ice. As he was falling he put his arms out to form a T. This kept him from falling completely through. The river underneath the ice was flowing at about 4 mph so if he let go he would float way from the hole and be completely trapped under the ice. He tried to kick himself up, but the heavy skates made this seemingly impossible. He tried one last time and felt a pull from his collar as he slipped up onto the ice. He looked around to see who pulled him up. There was no one there. He told us that his belief in God was strengthened that day.

On another day, Leroy decided to skate out under a distant bridge. The ice was firm and fast on the side canals, but under the bridge the current was stronger and the ice was thinner. When he reach the bridge he fell right through the ice. He tried to pull himself back up, but could not. Each time he tried to pull him self up, the ice would break further. His only chance was to keep breaking the ice and expand the hole by punching it. With each punch the ice gave way and allowed him to get closer and closer to a bridge support. Finally, he was able to reach the bridge support and pull himself up.

Finally, on a very windy summer day, Leroy took his sail boat out onto the river. He was a master sailer and he skillfully navigated the currents and winds on that day until he notice that a rope slipped out of place on his boat. To fix the problem he had to let go of the rudder. An instant after letting go, the wind and current turned the boat and the boom from the mast swung around and knocked Leroy out of the boat unconscious. He landed on his back and floated face up. He's not sure how long he was floating before he eventually regained consciousness. He does remember that it took him a few seconds to even realize that he was in water. As soon as he did, panic replaced the relaxed unconscious state he was in and he immediately started to sink. He looked up and saw his boat 20 yards away floating down river at the same speed as he was moving. He was able to swim over and get back on the boat. I said, "wow lucky you had a life preserver on." He said, "I did not have a life preserver on, those are for sissies."

The Main Point

97 year old Leroy Whannel with his great grand kids

I watched my kids as they listened in wonder to Leroy's stories. I wondered if they understood that if Leroy did not survive these accidents that they would not be there to listen in wonder. Did I mention that Leroy was on Normandy Beach during the D-Day invasion? That is a story for another day.

Youth Sports Interferes with Family Time. I Think Not.

The University of Minnesota conducted research on Youth Sports. The report is called Parents perceptions of how frequently youth sports interferes with family time. 

They conclude that "done right" youth sports can provide a positive and meaningful context for youth development and family engagement. They also express concern that the amped up youth sports world of today can place the health and well being of the children at risk. Overuse injuries, parental pressure to succeed and compromised family leisure time are the main issues.

I agree with the overuse injuries and pressure being potential issues. But I disagree with the argument that the amped up youth sports world of today hinders optimal development because meals, family outings and simple discussions between families and children are sacrificed. 

On the contrary, I think that youth sports has brought my family closer together. Due to our crazy schedule - last month we had 18 practices and 30 games between two kids - my wife and I spent countless hours in the car with our kids. Do you know what we do in the car? We talk. We have also spent countless hours at restaurants after games. Do you know what we do while waiting for our meals and eating? We talk. Travel tournaments draw us even closer together. Just last year, we visited Cooperstown and Disney. We are seeing the world and bonding. 

The following charts are from the report which I encourage you to visit via the link above.

As I look at the data, I can report that youth sports does interfere with Sunday religious service. I talked about this in my post called I Used to Wear Soccer Shin Pads to Church.  My kids go to Catholic schools so they are creating a strong religious foundation. The kids go to a service every Thursday during school. My wife and I, however, miss church more than we would like.


Late practices often pushes homework later in the evening, so I would agree that sleep is sometimes compromised. 


School is number one in our house and my kids do well, but I must admit that sometimes homework is compromised. My older son has ADHD and school did not come as easily. We restricted him to one sport per season.


Youth sports does interfere with vacations in one aspect - for example we would love to visit family out west in the summer, however, travel baseball and AAU basketball tournaments take up all of my vacation time so we have not been able to see extended family as much as we would like. On the other hand, youth sports travel tournaments also inspire vacations for us. This year we will go to Disney and to Gulf Port Mississippi. 


Youth sports does not interfere with Family time, in fact I think that we spend more time together than the average family because of sports. When we have the rare an off weekend from sports, I do not see my kids. They are off to sleepovers or hang in the basement playing video games.


Youth sports do interfere with the traditional family meal at home,  but we do eat out together a lot after games. I think that the point about family meals is the time spent together talking and we do that frequently at restaurants.

The chart indicates which sports interfere the most. Funny this chart does not have a bar that represents my daughters schedule - she is playing school volleyball, AAU basketball and Elite soccer all at the same time. 

The Main Point

So you can look at youth sports as a negative and in some families it can be, but the overbearing parent with unrealistic expectations is most likely the problem and not the schedule. I look at youth sports as a huge enriching positive for my kids and our family. 

Youth Sports: I Used to Wear Soccer Shin Pads to Church

Today is Sunday. The day you are supposed to go to church, think about God, reflect on the week and rest. When I was a young kid, this was not hard to do because there was not really much that you could do on Sundays. Most stores were closed and most youth sporting events avoided Sunday games and practices. 

As I got older, however, youth sports started to impinge on the Holy day. Baseball started having some games late in the day on Sundays. We used to go to the last mass at 11:30 AM every week. Going to the last mass was not a issue because games would never start before 2 PM. Eventually, the schedule started featuring 1 PM games.  To make these games, I would have to go to church in my baseball uniform and leave immediately after we took communion.

I remember feeling a bit weird not wearing nice pants and shoes to church at first, but eventually, it felt quite liberating. I had a dark blue polyester shirt with bright white lettering across my chest that screamed White Sox. Needless to say, I stuck out in church when I wore it. It made a huge statement. My message to the congregation and the priest -- Hey Father, we don't care about your silly "do nothing on Sunday" rules. I was never quite comfortable with the statement I was making. Over time, I remember going to church in my soccer uniform, shin pads and all. I guess I wore the shin pads to protect myself from the wrath of the Lord.

Nowadays, every store is open except Chick-fil-A and sports teams do not even hesitate to schedule games and practices on Sundays, and that includes mornings. Today we have an optional futsal (an indoor form of soccer) scrimmage at 9AM and an optional baseball practice at 10AM. When futsal league play starts, it will not be as optional and when winter baseball training officially starts in January, that will not be as optional either. Today we are taking the option and will not go. Both of my athletes do, however, have basketball practices later in the day.

The Main Point

Taking Back Sundays is a grass-roots initiative of parents collectively reclaiming Sunday as a sports-free day. They have a pledge that they want all of us Crazy Youth Sports Parents to take. While I admire the tenets of the movement, our family will not be taking the pledge because we could never honor it. We do still, however, honor God in our way. Judge us if you like. 

The organization behind Taking Back Sundays is concerned about over-scheduled kids and under-connected families. The organization believes that over-scheduled kids miss out on essential family time, especially meal time. My kids are most definitely over-scheduled, but I think that youth sports brings our family together. While we do not eat together at home often, we regularly go out to eat after games as a family. 

Youth Basketball: Bad Call for a Good Reason

Sometimes I wonder why I write this blog, but on Saturday I was reminded why by a beautiful event. A good ref made a terrible call for a good reason.

My daughter, CC, had a basketball game today. The championship game of a CYO tournament for 4th grade girls. We got to the gym early hoping to warm up, but the 5th grade girls semi-final game was in progress. I looked up at the scoreboard to see how much time was remaining. Ugh, I thought to myself. The game was only in the 2nd quarter. A bright orange team from a parish about 10 miles away was playing the 5th grade team from my daughter's school. The orange team was winning decisively.

My daughter spotted some friends and took off. With nothing better to do, I watched the action on the court and I am glad I did.

You could tell that the orange team was well coached because the ball was moving around so effectively. Every girl knew where to go and knew almost instinctively where help was if needed. It was so fluid. It so was beautiful.

There was one girl on the court donned in orange and thick glasses who was following the beautiful flow of the game, but she was a few steps behind everyone else. She always knew where to go, but she was just a little slow to get there. Her teammates would always patiently wait for her to get into position. They would pass the ball to her on occasion even though they probably knew that there might be better options. The girl donned in orange with think glasses was behind, but not left behind.

As the game progressed, the black team from my daughter's school chipped away at the lead and made a game of it. Still the coach of the orange team did not make any adjustments to the line-up late in the game. He trusted his talented guards to control the final few minutes and protect the lead. He trusted the girl in orange with think glasses to get into the right position.

With 7 seconds on the clock, the orange team held a 7 point lead. The speedy guard from the white team had the ball and was cutting across the court from left to right. The girl with the think glasses was cutting across the court right to left. She was concentrating so hard on getting into position that she did not know where the ball was. The two girls collided.

It was an obvious foul on the girl in orange. She was not trying to defend, she was just desperately trying to get to her position as coached which she eventually did and stood there as if nothing had happened.

The ref reached for his whistle. He hesitated. He looked up at the clock. 3 seconds left. He looked at the foul situation. Few fouls had been called so neither team was in the bonus. He then blew the whistle.

He turned toward the scoring table and yelled, "Foul on white #10" It was a bad call for a good reason. Although it was not a shooting foul, he put the girl in orange on the line to shoot free throws.

No one complained. Six girls jogged to the basket and lined up white, orange, white on either side of the lane. Two girls in orange and one in white took their positions at the top of the key. The girl with the thick glasses wearing bright orange stood dutifully in her defensive position on the wing. The position she was so desperately trying to get to when the play started.

The tall skinny ref with grey hair walked over to her and bent down. He said something to her. He handed her the ball and walked her to the line. The girl knew what to do and did not hesitate at all. The ball flew through the air on a beautiful arc with the school's Prayer for Athletes blue banner hanging in the background.

You could feel all nine girls on the court, the six or so girls on the both benches, the coaches from both teams, the two supposedly impartial refs and the one hundred plus fans praying for the ball to go in.

The ball bounced off the back of the rim.

A teammate rebounded the ball and gave it to the ref. The ref bounced it to the girl on the line. Again, without even a moment of hesitation, she launched the ball up toward the hoop. Again the ball had a beautiful arc, but again the ball bounced off the back of the rim. She was a little too close or a little too strong. A loud AHH came from the fans, the players, the coaches and the refs.

After the game, I wanted to shake the hand of this great ref. I approached him hand extended and told him that he made a great call. He smiled proudly. He told me how he hesitated in making the call. He told me that he was concerned that someone would get mad. Then he told me that his daughter has down syndrome too.

My daughter's team took the court.


My daughter's team played in the finals of a CYO tournament against the other team from her school. CC's team dominated the game and outshot the other team 34 to 12, but the ball would not fall in the hoop for her team. The game turned out to be a defensive low scoring game. The lead changed back and forth all game.

With 7 seconds on the clock, a play was called to free up CC for a final winning shot. Her best friend got her the ball and CC did a nice cross over dribble move to the left. A pick worked perfectly to free CC up for a shot. She pulled up for a 10 foot jumper.

The ball went on a beautiful arc toward the hoop. The blue Athletes Prayer banner hung in the background.


Let competition make me strong, but never hostile.


The ball hit the back of the rim and bounced up.

If I know victory allow me to be happy. 


The ball hit the front of the rim and bounced up.


If I am denied keep me from envy.


The ball fell to the side and CC's team lost.

The Main Point

The second line of the Prayer for Athletes says, Help me learn something that matters once the game is over. I did thanks to a ref who made a bad call for a good reason. The prayer concludes with If through athletics I set an example, let it be a good one, Amen.

 Ref, sir, you set a good example. 

The Real Reason Why the 1964 Phillies Collapsed

I was a guess blogger for the Intramuralist this summer - this is a story about both faith and fathers and sons enjoying the game that binds the generations together, baseball.

Bad things happen for a reason.

In September of 1964, my dad waited in anticipation for two once in a lifetime events:  the birth of his first son and the first World Series Championship for the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Phillies had never won a World Series before. The closest the Phillies ever came was in 1915 when they lost to the Boston Red Sox. That was 23 years before my dad was born.

On September 15th, the day I was born, the Phillies beat the Colt 45s of Houston, 1-0. That victory gave the Phillies a comfortable 6 game lead with 17 games to play. Life could not have been any better for my dad.

Then the unthinkable happened. Over the next 15 games, the Phillies lost 13 of them and fell behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the standings. The Phillies won their last 2 games of the year, but it was too late. They finished 1 game behind the eventual World Series Champs, the St. Louis Cardinals, and became the laughingstock of baseball.

After the season was lost, my dad sadly tucked his unused World Series tickets for games 1 and 7 into the family bible, where they stayed for years. He and his dad talked about the collapse over and over again. They debated the “what ifs,” the “hows,” and especially, the “whys.”

As soon as I was old enough, my dad talked to me about the Phillies’ collapse, too. I’m sure he was playing back old tapes of conversations that he had with his dad the weeks, months and years following the great collapse. He told me how it happened and who to blame, but he could not explain why it happened.

In 1980, while Jimmy Carter was busy creating policies that pushed the misery index to historic levels, the Phillies won the National League Pennant. My dad wanted to go to the World Series, but money was tight. He called some sources but could not find tickets for a reasonable price. He decided not to go.

The day before game 6, when the excitement and ticket prices were at an all time high, he changed his mind and purchased 2 seats in right centerfield. He paid a whopping $300. It was not an easy purchase to make, but off we went.

It was a cool October night. The stadium was absolutely electric. Steve Carlton pitched masterfully, and the Phillies won their first ever World Series. As Tug McGraw closed out the game and jumped into Bob Boone’s arms, we discovered why the 1964 Phillies collapsed so long ago.

The Phillies did not make it to the World Series in 1964, so a dad could watch his beloved Phillies win their first World Series with his first and only son standing right next to him.

The Main Point


Don't pass up on once in a lifetime events.


I grew up in the New York area and became as big a Yankee fan as I was a Phillies fan. I have always longed for a Yankees – Phillies World Series. Not so coincidentally, my baseball loving son loves the Yankee and Phillies too.

In 2009, while Barrack Obama was busy creating policies that only Jimmy Carter could love, the Phillies won the National League Pennant. Like my dad, I hesitated before shelling out a large some of money (tickets and airfare that was more than 10X what he paid). It was not an easy purchase to make, but off we went.

It was a cool November night. The stadium was absolutely electric and I was standing next to my son at the World Series.