I'm the coach of my daughter Olivia's softball team, and we practice Fridays at 6:30. This past Friday the weather forecast called for a high of 95, but I didn't think anything of it when seeing that in the morning paper.

Upon getting to work, though, a friend mentioned that I might want to consider calling off practice due to the heat.

Coaching my daughter is something I look forward to, and given that the season is only seven weeks long, with one practice and game a week, I'm loath to cancel one of these opportunities.

My friend's comment, though, got me thinking to last week's practice. Although not nearly as hot as this past Friday, it was warm, and after about 45 minutes the girls let me know they were ready to stop.

I also thought about this from the perspective of a 7-year-old's parent instead of a coach, and saw nothing to gain from my daughter practicing in such heat.

At that point, I e-mailed the parents suggesting that we cancel that night's practice. Several parents let me know they thought this was the right thing to do, so I called it off. I then phoned all the parents, and their responses confirmed that this was the correct decision.

It's easy to lose sight sometimes of what's really important, as I did in this case. A big part of coaching on any level is taking, or at least considering, the advice of others, especially from those who are talking from experience. I can site many incidences this season when that advice has come in handy, with Friday being just the latest example.