Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

Hard to categorize this one... So I'll put it here where the most traffic is. Karl told me it was "cathartic" writing this one... it's long.. it's centered on Noah... and it's a great read!

Check it out: http://www.ay-ziggy-zoomba.com/articles/1987alum/

Excellent piece, Karl! I love reading about Noah's sports activities. His attitude is the best: I was proud of the way he was handling himself and after the 25-2 beating, I said, "tough day, huh Noah?" He shrugged his shoulders, "I still had a good time. It was fun."

Fun. That's what it's all about at this age. Josh and Jake played baseball for the first time this year. After every game, I made it a point to ask them if they had fun. They said they did every time. That's all that matters at their age. Learn the game but have fun.

Josh went thru a batting slump for about 4 games during the season. For some reason, he just froze at the plate and wouldn't swing at ANY pitch. I kept telling him he had to swing the bat to hit the ball. Josh would walk slowly back to the bench and bury his head in his chin after striking out looking again and again. Finally, after taking him to the field a few times and throwing 120 pitches to him, he started swinging again. I worked with him as much as he wanted me to. Other parents kept saying if he ever got a hold of one, look out. Well, in the title game, he got a hold of one and belted that sucker over the head of the right fielder. The smile on his face made my eyes misty. I was so very proud of him. His team won the league title in his first year.

Thanks for that article. It's refreshing to watch sports at that age and know it doesn't really matter who wins and who loses. As long as the kids learn, have fun and enjoy the atmosphere, they ALL win.

Falconfreak90 wrote:Fun. That's what it's all about at this age.

...and what it SHOULD be about at all ages!!

Great article Karl!

My dad coached my little league teams from the time I was 4 until I was 16. We rarely put together winning teams, but we always had a good time.

After just finishing up a coed softball league in which my team went 2-9 (one of the wins ws a forfeit), I wish I could still just go out there and have fun. This team was a bunch of people that were mostly carryovers from previous not crappy teams, but I didn't coach this year. For whatever reason we never got any sort of emotion or passion in this year's team. Every game was a brutal loss, and it stopped being fun a long time ago.

When I was the coach when others were saying they just wanted to have fun, my retort was always, "Winning is fun." And it is as true as ever, no doubt. There is still something to be said for those that can have fun even when things are not going well.

Falconfreak90 wrote:Fun. That's what it's all about at this age.

The key is making htem comfortable enough to tell you if they aren't having fun, and not build an expectation that they need to love it.

This was our first year of soccer for the princess. 5-on-5 no goalies. She had fun, but when it was over, she was ready for it to be over.

Conversation in the Byron household:
"Hey, princess, you've been selected to play in an All-Star game on Sunday. Do you want to play?"

"No."

Next year she wants to play baseball.

Fantastic article, '87!!! Thanks for posting it and sharing a bit of your life as a Dad, very heartwarming, to say the least!!