Dreams die hard...
What had been something of a dream season ended with a resounding thud tonight. Losing is always hard to take, but getting blown out and having the kids feel so bad for feeling like they'd let everyone down was the worst. We'd been spectacular over-achievers all year, and going 11-1 and winning a game in triple overtime just to get to the Semi-finals is some consolation...but it's still hard seeing kids wrestle with that kind of disappointment.
There's really not much to say right now, I just hope we can take some lessons from this and put it behind us. So many positive things happened this year, I just hope this doesn't sour those. I really made it a point to put more focus on off-field stuff this year, and one of the big things I did was try to get the guys to think about their futures.
At one team meeting, I gave them all note cards and told them to write down three things they might like to do for careers. Last week, I gave them back and had them pick the one they most wanted to do, and then write down how they'd accomplish that. Essentially, they were supposed to come up with their dream job, their dream college and their dream place to live.
A few were a little flaky, but most were pretty impressive, and instead of just the esoteric "I want to be an engineer, lawyer, pharmacist, teacher, etc..., even though I really don't have any idea what they do", it got them to do a little research and hopefully a little thinking. So many times small town kids just see things as out of reach, and my hope was that they could see our success this season as an impossible dream come true, and so there was no reason they couldn't make their dreams come true too.
Hopefully it helps, and hopefully tonight doesn't spoil any of the positives we'd gained. I've got all their cards though, and I'm going to make some kind of packet for all of them. Hopefully I can get them all to send off for college info and find somebody to shadow or at least talk to about their career. It's not hard for a kid whose parents or relatives are some kind of professional to picture being something like that themselves, but if you don't know anybody like that, it's just plain foreign. We've been lucky to have kids come from rough backgrounds and do some pretty spectacular things though, hopefully we'll have more out of this group too.
Tonight I felt like a massive failure, I couldn't have felt worse, fortunately my sister came down to the game and brought her kids, which always makes things better. I read my nephew the Dr. Seuss book "Oh the places you'll go!" and I don't think I could have had any better therapy all around:
You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.
Except when you don' t
Because, sometimes, you won't.
And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.
On and on you will hike
and I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.
And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3 / 4 percent guaranteed.)
KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!
So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!
There's really not much to say right now, I just hope we can take some lessons from this and put it behind us. So many positive things happened this year, I just hope this doesn't sour those. I really made it a point to put more focus on off-field stuff this year, and one of the big things I did was try to get the guys to think about their futures.
At one team meeting, I gave them all note cards and told them to write down three things they might like to do for careers. Last week, I gave them back and had them pick the one they most wanted to do, and then write down how they'd accomplish that. Essentially, they were supposed to come up with their dream job, their dream college and their dream place to live.
A few were a little flaky, but most were pretty impressive, and instead of just the esoteric "I want to be an engineer, lawyer, pharmacist, teacher, etc..., even though I really don't have any idea what they do", it got them to do a little research and hopefully a little thinking. So many times small town kids just see things as out of reach, and my hope was that they could see our success this season as an impossible dream come true, and so there was no reason they couldn't make their dreams come true too.
Hopefully it helps, and hopefully tonight doesn't spoil any of the positives we'd gained. I've got all their cards though, and I'm going to make some kind of packet for all of them. Hopefully I can get them all to send off for college info and find somebody to shadow or at least talk to about their career. It's not hard for a kid whose parents or relatives are some kind of professional to picture being something like that themselves, but if you don't know anybody like that, it's just plain foreign. We've been lucky to have kids come from rough backgrounds and do some pretty spectacular things though, hopefully we'll have more out of this group too.
Tonight I felt like a massive failure, I couldn't have felt worse, fortunately my sister came down to the game and brought her kids, which always makes things better. I read my nephew the Dr. Seuss book "Oh the places you'll go!" and I don't think I could have had any better therapy all around:
You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed.
You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you'll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.
Except when you don' t
Because, sometimes, you won't.
And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself
is not easily done.
On and on you will hike
and I know you'll hike far
and face up to your problems
whatever they are.
And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3 / 4 percent guaranteed.)
KID, YOU'LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!
So...
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O'Shea,
you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!