When my high school religion teacher heard I was going to be home for a week for Fall Break from the University of Notre Dame, she asked me if I would come speak at my high school’s youth rally. The workshop I was asked to give was called “Reflecting God in Sports.” I had gone to the youth rallies while in high school and didn’t have much planned for the week, so I agreed to give the talk.
I just got home from the youth rally. As I sit here, I have a lot to reflect on. I gave my talk three times to three different groups of high school students. There were athletes and non-athletes, students who attend public school and students who attend Catholic schools. To start each workshop, I asked the group to create a list of the reasons why they compete in extracurricular activities. No group out of the three volunteered “winning” as an answer; I often had to ask them leading questions to hear that answer. Instead, the students gave answers such as having fun (which was the first response given every time), staying in shape, and building character. Not only was the idea of winning not on the tips of their tongues, it didn’t appear to be in their minds at all.
I wonder how different the responses would have been if I had given my talk to a group of adults, or, more specifically, parents of young athletes. I doubt it would have taken so much effort on my part to hear “winning” given as a reason to compete. What does that tell us about youth sports today? When we read stories about parents violently attacking coaches because their child is not getting enough playing time, maybe we need to step back and learn a lesson from the athletes themselves. They are out there to have fun, learn the sport, and become better people. They aren’t so wrapped up in winning that they lose focus of what is important. Their parents, on the other hand, sometimes seem to forget what youth sports are really about.
I don’t think young athletes get enough credit. Instead of flooding the newspapers with stories about crazy parents, we should give more attention to the people who have their priorities straight. More often than not these people are the athletes themselves; this point was clearly proven to me today.
Amy Grinsteinner, Class of 2011
Social Foundations of Coaching Class
University of Notre Dame
Friday, October 22, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Red Sox Fan
As a Red Sox fan, the 2010 baseball season will be remembered as a lost opportunity, a season of wondering what could have been, if injuries had not plagued the Sox throughout the summer. Although Terry Francona and his players will be watching this year’s playoffs from their couches, and Boston sports fans will anxiously await the start of the NBA season, ESPN’s latest episode of its documentary series, 30 for 30, took Sox fans back to a happier time. Four Days in October, which debuted on Oct. 5, 2010, allows viewers to relive the magic of Games 4 through 7 of the 2004 ALCS, with an inside look at how the Red Sox rallied from a 3-0 series deficit against their longtime nemesis, the New York Yankees.
I understand that I have some bias towards Four Days in October. As someone who has followed the Red Sox closely for several years, the hour-long documentary did not teach me anything new or groundbreaking. Instead, what made Four Days in October a great trip down memory lane was that it reminded me of the power that sports have in bringing people together. Reliving Dave Roberts’ steal, Curt Schilling’s bloody sock and David Ortiz’s walk-off hits took me back to that exciting time during my sophomore year of high school. The TV and radio broadcast clips can make any diehard Sox fan a bit misty-eyed. However, watching the Red Sox defeat the Yankees, break the “Curse of the Bambino” and ultimately win their first World Series since 1918 was only part of what made 2004 a special year.
Four Days in October, the other documentaries and DVDs that chronicle the season, and the countless books that retell the incredible story, serve not only to reminisce about the events that took place between the baselines, but also those moments in schools, sports bars, and the living rooms of people across New England and “Red Sox Nation.” The clips of fans on the edge of their seats at Cask’n Flagon and the stories of generations of Bostonians long-awaiting a championship are a reminder of how the Red Sox improbable victory was about more than simply a team winning a few baseball games.
In 2004, the city had a long track record of success on the hardwood and recently, on the gridiron. The Celtics had won 16 NBA titles and the Patriots dynasty was in its heyday. Boston however, was truly a baseball city. But since 1919, when Babe Ruth was sold to the New York Yankees, Red Sox fans had experienced disappointment time and time again.
After generations of frustration and decades of hearing “wait until next year,” things changed in 2004. Against incredible odds, the Red Sox, the self-proclaimed “idiots,” finally brought home a World Series title. The unlikely playoff run brought together families and friends, fathers and sons, and mothers and daughters who had hoped and prayed that they would live to see a championship flag raised at Fenway Park.
Every true fan knows who they were with when the Red Sox defeated the Yankees in 2004, just as every Phillies fan can recall where they were when Brad Lidge recorded the final out of the 2008 World Series and how many Americans remember exactly what they were doing when Al Michaels shouted, “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” during the 1980 Winter Olympics. It’s the moments like these that make sports special. Though we usually do not, and probably will never have any real connection or relationship with the athletes we cheer for, the power of sports to bring friends, family and even total strangers together is what makes them worth following.
Just as Domers strike up conversations when they pass someone wearing ND apparel, any Red Sox fan that sees an unfamiliar face with a “B” on his hat might be apt to yell, “Go Sox!” While some are critical of fandom and the occasionally obsessive nature of sports aficionados, many people view the teams they cheer for as part of their identity, as they do their hometown or alma mater. Just like we can identify with other people who have a connection to Notre Dame, we share a common bond with people who root for the same teams that we do.
Whether it is on an athletic team of our own or through one that we cheer for, follow faithfully and identify with, sports are a powerful means for bringing people together. We come together with families, friends, classmates and co-workers. We share memories of hope and elation, stories of disappointment and frustration and we feel unity with a group of people with whom we may have nothing else in common other than the logo on our baseball hat.
Josh Flynt
Class of 2011
Social Foundations of Coaching
I understand that I have some bias towards Four Days in October. As someone who has followed the Red Sox closely for several years, the hour-long documentary did not teach me anything new or groundbreaking. Instead, what made Four Days in October a great trip down memory lane was that it reminded me of the power that sports have in bringing people together. Reliving Dave Roberts’ steal, Curt Schilling’s bloody sock and David Ortiz’s walk-off hits took me back to that exciting time during my sophomore year of high school. The TV and radio broadcast clips can make any diehard Sox fan a bit misty-eyed. However, watching the Red Sox defeat the Yankees, break the “Curse of the Bambino” and ultimately win their first World Series since 1918 was only part of what made 2004 a special year.
Four Days in October, the other documentaries and DVDs that chronicle the season, and the countless books that retell the incredible story, serve not only to reminisce about the events that took place between the baselines, but also those moments in schools, sports bars, and the living rooms of people across New England and “Red Sox Nation.” The clips of fans on the edge of their seats at Cask’n Flagon and the stories of generations of Bostonians long-awaiting a championship are a reminder of how the Red Sox improbable victory was about more than simply a team winning a few baseball games.
In 2004, the city had a long track record of success on the hardwood and recently, on the gridiron. The Celtics had won 16 NBA titles and the Patriots dynasty was in its heyday. Boston however, was truly a baseball city. But since 1919, when Babe Ruth was sold to the New York Yankees, Red Sox fans had experienced disappointment time and time again.
After generations of frustration and decades of hearing “wait until next year,” things changed in 2004. Against incredible odds, the Red Sox, the self-proclaimed “idiots,” finally brought home a World Series title. The unlikely playoff run brought together families and friends, fathers and sons, and mothers and daughters who had hoped and prayed that they would live to see a championship flag raised at Fenway Park.
Every true fan knows who they were with when the Red Sox defeated the Yankees in 2004, just as every Phillies fan can recall where they were when Brad Lidge recorded the final out of the 2008 World Series and how many Americans remember exactly what they were doing when Al Michaels shouted, “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” during the 1980 Winter Olympics. It’s the moments like these that make sports special. Though we usually do not, and probably will never have any real connection or relationship with the athletes we cheer for, the power of sports to bring friends, family and even total strangers together is what makes them worth following.
Just as Domers strike up conversations when they pass someone wearing ND apparel, any Red Sox fan that sees an unfamiliar face with a “B” on his hat might be apt to yell, “Go Sox!” While some are critical of fandom and the occasionally obsessive nature of sports aficionados, many people view the teams they cheer for as part of their identity, as they do their hometown or alma mater. Just like we can identify with other people who have a connection to Notre Dame, we share a common bond with people who root for the same teams that we do.
Whether it is on an athletic team of our own or through one that we cheer for, follow faithfully and identify with, sports are a powerful means for bringing people together. We come together with families, friends, classmates and co-workers. We share memories of hope and elation, stories of disappointment and frustration and we feel unity with a group of people with whom we may have nothing else in common other than the logo on our baseball hat.
Josh Flynt
Class of 2011
Social Foundations of Coaching
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
The Pageantry of Sport?
Most recently, the world caught one of baseball’s most impressionable players red handed. Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees was caught acting. Not acting in a good sense either. It happened in a game between the Yankees and a major division rival. The game was significant because the winner would become closer than the other to reaching the division playoff bid. Jeter was up to bat when the pitcher threw a ball close to Jeter. At first glance, it looked as if he was hit in the elbow. He acted as if he were hit and made a scene. The ump let him walk to first. The Yankees wound up losing that game but by the end of the game it was known that the ball hit the bat. This play sparked a hot debate: Is acting in the sport okay if it helps the team win, especially a much needed win?
My answer to this is acting will not help a team or individual win in the long term. It is a simple argument. If one wants to win in sport, they must learn to respect the opponent. Why? Because when one respects the opponent this brings out competition in its truest form. They can see what other teams are doing for success and failure. It is sort of an acknowledgement by respect. Now, one can see how they need to perform in contrast to what the opponent is performing. They work on their skill development. This does not mean the athlete or team will get the win at the game though. It does mean though the athlete or team is learning how to develop and become better and stronger.
Where does acting fall into this discussion? To sum it up, acting does not help skill development in the sport. Acting distracts one from working on the skills required to beat an opponent. In another sense, by acting it is telling the opponent one did not take the time to prepare to your best. One did not respect the game their opponent plays. I would say that acting could communicate a sign of weakness, a lack of focus.
In the end, think about this question: “If you approached coaching as teaching life skills to help your athletes learn how make life decisions, would acting be involved?”
John Tyler Mowbray
University of Notre Dame 2011
Social Foundations of Coaching
My answer to this is acting will not help a team or individual win in the long term. It is a simple argument. If one wants to win in sport, they must learn to respect the opponent. Why? Because when one respects the opponent this brings out competition in its truest form. They can see what other teams are doing for success and failure. It is sort of an acknowledgement by respect. Now, one can see how they need to perform in contrast to what the opponent is performing. They work on their skill development. This does not mean the athlete or team will get the win at the game though. It does mean though the athlete or team is learning how to develop and become better and stronger.
Where does acting fall into this discussion? To sum it up, acting does not help skill development in the sport. Acting distracts one from working on the skills required to beat an opponent. In another sense, by acting it is telling the opponent one did not take the time to prepare to your best. One did not respect the game their opponent plays. I would say that acting could communicate a sign of weakness, a lack of focus.
In the end, think about this question: “If you approached coaching as teaching life skills to help your athletes learn how make life decisions, would acting be involved?”
John Tyler Mowbray
University of Notre Dame 2011
Social Foundations of Coaching
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)