My daughter, Olivia, thinks her head is a “ball magnet,” so she does not participate too actively in sports. That’s cool. She does love helping people, though, so I signed her up to be a buddy in a basketball league for kids with special needs. She loves it.
Last summer, Olivia volunteered at an equestrian camp to assist kids as they learned to interact with horses. She realized it was hard work, and she definitely got her exercise.
We also love to swim in the ocean together. Every summer it takes her a few hours to get used to the size of the waves and remember her technique for diving under. Once she gets it, she’s a fish and she won’t get out of the water.
Olivia's Dad
Trying different games and activities with your kids—especially if you’re a coach or active sports parent—allows them to see you in a new setting and may help them gain another perspective on the value and meaning of play.
]]>Also ladderball, which I guess is more of a game like horseshoes than an actual sport. Who know?—Let’s hear from you horseshoe pros and ladderball aficionados.
]]>He’s also a pretty good skimboarder. Watching him do that is hilarious because he puts on this “I’m cool” face as he’s whizzing by people in the surf.
Doug
We just shot some Ultimate Frisbee videos for PlaySportsTV, so I'll keep you posted on when they'll be live on the site. Until then, keep those discs flying! (Hey, remember that early glow-in-the-dark model?)
]]>We purposely didn’t schedule anything for him the first week he was out of school, back in June. The funniest thing he did then was that he and one of his best friends played on our swing set for hours. They came up with a synchronized swinging routine where they both flipped over, swung upside down while just holding on with their feet, and just other crazy stuff. Their dismount was hilarious.
Doug
One thing I have learned is that the game is about my son and not about me. R-E-S-P-E-C-T: You have to respect your child’s sports experiences. I learned this lesson the hard way. I used to run up and down the sidelines at Jack’s lacrosse games and scream advice—and I wasn’t even the coach. Finally, Jack told me that this just confused him, because he got advice from the coach and from me, and he didn’t know who to listen to.
I learned to keep my sideline shouts to encouragement and leave the game-time advice to the coach. Oh, yeah, I later became coach of Jack’s lacrosse team!
]]>This truth is a big part of our goal for PlaySportsTV. We want to provide straightforward instructional videos and other materials that easily give parents an understanding of the game their kid plays. A lot of our videos demonstrate particular skills you can demonstrate or drills you can run with your child.
That way, you as a parent won’t feel intimidated to just go out and play the game with your daughter or son. In the end, PlaySportsTV wants kids to develop their skills but also develop their confidence and understanding of sportsmanship. And ground-level, I think that’s comes about when we parents spend meaningful time with our kids—just knocking the ball around.
]]>It turns out that you really don’t need an in-depth knowledge of a sport to share time playing it with your child. That’s what the sports experts tell us, and I’ve found it to be true with Jack and me.
Just having fun and participating at some level with your kids in, say, soccer, baseball, or softball makes the experience better for them. It shows you care and have an interest in their interests. And, hey, you can even let them teach you a thing or two!
]]>And why not? It’s the first week in the past two and a half months I don’t have lacrosse games to coach or other similar commitments.
Funny thing, though. Many of us fathers think we get a day off from fathering and parenting this Sunday—a day we have a built-in excuse to NOT father.
Shouldn’t be the opposite? Shouldn’t we make sure we plan time with our wives and kids to celebrate the whole fatherhood thing?
That’s my Father’s Day Challenge! Let’s all try to find a little time to get in the backyard with our kids…and play ball, chase ‘em around, run through a sprinkler. Anything that let’s us see, feel, and enjoy being a father. Life is short, and these memories will make a more lasting impression than taking a nap in the hammock.
It may be counterintuitive, but that’s exactly how Fathers Day should be spent….at least until the last U.S. Open group gets to the 17th tee!
Doug
]]>It’s not always easy finding that time. Often, Jack and I just go in the backyard, usually to play soccer or lacrosse. We get out there and make up our own fun games to play; for these times, it’s not about constantly getting better and better and pushing him to excel. That’s for practice and for games. This is about fun and time spent together. Of course, Jack sees it as a time to show he can beat me 1 v. 1 with his new dribbling or stick skills!
Doug
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Doug
]]>For our shoot, Kevin brought along one of his players, Lily, and we ran through several goaltending techniques. They nailed ‘em all. For every video, Kevin introduced the concept briefly, demonstrated it himself and with Lily, and then wrapped up nicely with a quick reiteration.
A coach who has this ability to precisely encapsulate and demonstrate a necessary skill for his or her players is a true asset, both on the field and in PlaySportsTV videos.
Doug
Then, we ran over to a baseball diamond and shoot a couple of quick drills. My friend still thought I was an idiot. Well, fortunately, we were able to get a number of people interested in our new venture, PlaySportsTV, just from those few video pieces. That was surprising and exciting!
Doug
Being a visual learner and a new-media guy, I thought, “Online video.” I decided to produce “bite-sized” instructional sports videos to be uploaded to a website. The first batch of videos I shot became my “proof of concept”, and I took them to contacts I had at MSN and at Yahoo!. Their response was positive, so I thought I might be on to something. Then I got together some creative folks I know, along with some great coaches, and we started building out PlaySportsTV from these core videos.
Doug