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Thursday, August 11, 2011

Q is for Quit or Not!

I tried to re posted one of my Alphabe Thursday posts for the letter Q. I love quaint so I wanted to re post it! Then I started thinking about our son Nick! He is not a quitter yet he is suffering from pain in his hips and his coach wants him to "suck it up" and run! He is going to see the doctor later today but keep him in your prayers. His I.T. band has been giving him a lot of trouble.
He has been talking with lots of his buddies. One young man is studying at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Another, the University of Arkansas. Their common thread bonding them together? They are all runners. I write this today because yesterday my doc saw a 16 year old kid for a tonsil abcess. This is a painful and horrible medical problem to deal with! So when he was done the doc told me to schedule a follow up appointment for 10-14 days. School starts on August 22nd. So the young man said can I make it a different day! we chose Wedesday and his mom piped up "But you have foooootball praaaaactice!" The kid made me smile. He said "I don't care about football right now! I am hurting. Once I get this taken care of I can go back!"
I don't want to attack anyone who is related to a "coach" in any way. But sometime they get overbearing. Perhaps their dreams did not play out exactly as the had hoped. So they want to see those dreams in someone self. They want winners! Everybody wants to be a winner! Yet life often steps in and injury occurs. We can see the best doctors, get the best therapy and move on. Yet sometime these coaches want more!
We watched Nick's friend run on ESPN at the U of Arkansas. He said he realized how coaches really did not care when he was told to run with a stress fracture! He came in 4th! The pain in his face was too much for me to bear. He is a good kid. Came here from the other side of the world having lost his family in war and devastation! He deserves better.
My baby is going to see his primary care doctor. I know what he is going to say and the coach is not going to like it. But as my doctor always says, "Oh really, you went to medical school, where????" I love it. We all have our highs and our lows. Let's go back to what we learned in the kindergarten. We might just find out something new about ourselves.
I leave you on Alphabe Thursday with this video. about quitters.

Sorry that the video duplicated itself! Blogger and I don't like each other very well.

ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN
All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.
These are the things I learned:
  • Share everything.
  • Play fair.
  • Don't hit people.
  • Put things back where you found them.
  • Clean up your own mess.
  • Don't take things that aren't yours.
  • Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
  • Wash your hands before you eat.
  • Flush.
  • Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
  • Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
  • Take a nap every afternoon.
  • When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
  • Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
  • Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
  • And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.
Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.
And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.
[Source: "ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN" by Robert Fulghum.  See his web site at http://www.robertfulghum.com/  ]

15 comments:

Cathy Kennedy said...

Kids are definitely pushed beyond reason sometimes. That's ridiculous! Hope all ends well with your son and these young athletes.

Check it out…Q is for Quiet Time
50 Q&A, Part 4 of 5l
Your friend,
Cathy Kennedy, Children's Author
The Tale of Ole Green Eyes

Tete said...

Coaches can be one of the best influences on a life or the worst. Those who care not for the child's heart, should not be molding children. Period.
The best kind of coach is one who teaches the love of the sport, something that the child can take with them throughout their lives and pass onto others. One who can gently push them to their best, not somebody else's best, but their best. To help them climb to the top of who they are and to do so without injury.
Winning isn't everything. The best coach teaches you how to fail.
Hugs- Tete

NanaDiana said...

I hate that some coaches push their kids so hard with no regard for anything outside of the sport itself. Our youngest son played select soccer for many years and there was one coach that was bound deteremined to have him on his team and we just said NO.

I hope your son is okay and I'll say a little prayer for him~ xo Diana

Susan Anderson said...

This one touches a nerve with me. My son played varsity football in high school. When he tore his miniscus during a game, the doctor told him to wait a certain amount of time after the surgery before playing again. However, when the championship game came around, the Coach put so much pressure on him to play that it was ridiculous. He just didn't care about my son's long-term experience with that knee. All he wanted to do was win.

Really made me mad!

"/

Rocky Mountain Woman said...

I know what you mean. My kids are past that age and my grandkids haven't gotten there yet, but I know people who actually care more about their kid's athletic progress than they do about their long term health...

so so sad..

Keri {One Mama's Daily Drama} said...

This is so true! And then as adults we hang on to what we've been taught for so long. Hubby almost never goes to the doctor because he doesn't want to take a day off from work. When will we learn that you don't always have to just "tough it out"?

Maxwell Mead Williams Robinson Barry said...

quitting?

slowing down is another strategy,
thought provoking piece.

Sissie's Shabby Cottage said...

Good post. Some of these coaches are ridiculous and I agree with you.

hugs

sissie

Sweet Tea said...

What a pleasant read.
Glad I read this.
Hope the physical ailments are remedied quickly.

Barbara F. said...

Thanks for your visit today. Stop by any time! I hope all goes well with your son. Coaches need to take it down a notch sometimes. xo

Amanda said...

I think the no quit" ideology can be very helpful...in life.

Sports is not life.

Still, when it comes to such matters I prefer Kenny Rogers: "Know when to hold them, know when to fold them..."

Unknown said...

We haven't started sports here yet. It sounds like it is hard when the coach wants you to play.

Jeanne said...

Hello Anne, what a great post about sports and the kids who play. this story is a great lesson about what is right and what is wrong in the coaching world. Weather it be kids in school or professional. The issue of health is so important. If a coach asks a player to run or play whatever sport with an injury...THAT'S WRONG. Great post great point!!!
Hugs, Jeanne

Jenny said...

Oh no. I hope your son gets some good news! I can't imagine any child of yours being a quitter. You have such determination and courage in everything you do!

Thank you for this thought-provoking post. I have some strong thoughts about a coach that makes a hurt child play.

Thank you for linking.

A+

Intense Guy said...

Somewhere - we lost sight of "its just a game" or "we play sports for fun"...

...and now we have fathers murdering soccer coaches for not playing (or yelling at) their kid.

Truely insane.