Blogs

It's a beautiful Monday morning and Nick got off to school as usual; oatmeal, vitamin, shower, essentials, backpack with standard lunch and a quick walk across the street with mom and sissy to first grade. Sounds easy enough, and it needs to be as our family is on the cusp of one of Nick's biggest races of the season. We should be excited, anxious and talking it up and we are, that is my husband and I - alone and out of ear shot of Nick.

A new day, a new state high school sports safety bill.

Or so it seems.

Last week, it was the state of Washington passing bills to improve concussion safety by requiring pre-season concussion education of athletes and parents, and adoption of the strictest return-to-play concussion guidelines in the country. The bill awaits the governor's signature.

The question is, how do we get coaches, and sports parents for that matter, to begin teaching young athletes instead of increasing their coaching intensity and raising expectations?

If you are an athlete wanting to become better, more successful, maybe even of state or national caliber, you will likely find a multitude of things, or pieces of the puzzle, that need to be addressed in order to reach the level of attainment you are seeking. It can become overwhelming if you do not create for yourself an organized and functional way of handling all that must be done. I know for myself, I kept moving forward by following a specifically organized schedule of training created from a thought process that focused on organization and functionality.

Last weekend we woke to a cold crisp Saturday morning. Fortunately there was no wind. But at 25 degrees, it was plenty cold. This was the day for Meridian Youth Baseball Assessments. The thought of going through a baseball combine at that temperature didn't seem to phase the kids, they had adrenalin to keep them warm. We parents on the other hand, we were a bit chilly. And of course, nothing runs according to plan, so we waited in the cold for about an hour longer than we were prepared for. But it was only adults, like me, whining about the weather.