PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Light Up the Court with More Shots
I haven’t been able to play basketball since July and last week when I was at the YMCA doing rehab on my shoulder I found myself wandering onto the basketball court. I dribbled the ball around, allowing my shoulder to soften and relax with the controlled motion. Then with my good arm I shot one-handed for a bit. I’m sure it looked a bit odd, as I have to leave my left arm down by my side, but it sure was fun. And then, when I was done shooting around I went to the other end of the court to see if the young kid, who’d been shooting since I got there, wanted a rebounder. I couldn’t help myself.
I stepped under the hoop and asked as I snagged incoming balls out of the net and off the backboard and passed them back to him. He didn’t answer but his face lit up. So for the next half an hour I felt like myself again. I am at home on the court. I didn’t say much, other than suggesting to this twelve-year-old boy that he catch the ball like he would in a game, on the move, and then I passed the ball to him as he work around the basket at different distances. He had a nice shot and a relaxed follow-through, so I simply let him shoot.
If you are an athlete working on your shot, find a friend or a coach, partner up and get some extra shots in at game speed. Make up shooting games with one another, play some one-on-one, make it fun and keep your body moving. If you’re a mom or dad who knows nothing about the game, don’t be afraid to get out there with your […]
Monday’s Pen to Paper: The Fine Art of Writing
My daughter Charli is a writer. She may not believe she is, but I know it. Not only does she love to write, she’s written a first draft of a novel, and is studying to get a creative writing degree in college. That to me is a writer. Over Thanksgiving break my husband suggested she start a blog. She didn’t know what to think about the idea. Then last week I got a link to eloquentlyelliott.com, a place of for writing inspiration. Charli had created a blog.
Charli doesn’t quite know what this new blog space means to her. But for now it is a place to get her words down and share her love of writing. Her first blog post The Fine Art of Apologizing is a powerful piece and it came from a home work assignment in her non-fiction writing class. It is the inspiration for today’s writing prompt.
If you love to write, you are a writer, so find the time to do just that, you are worth it. Write On!
WRITING PROMPT: Write a piece about the fine art of something trivial. A sigh. A sneeze. The goal is to slow down and focus on the little things. Write on!
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: AWESOME SPORTS PROJECT writing contest
Do you have a story to share about your life on the court? on the field? on a diamond? or a story about what sports have meant to you as a woman? Awesome Sports Project has published two of my articles, Court Dreams: A Life Worth Living and Can I Play? Dreaming in the Wave of Title IV , that share stories about how athletics have changed my life and the lives of other women thanks to Title IV. Awesome Sports Project is an online literary journal committed to inspiring girl’s and women’s voices in sports.
This month Awesome Sports Project launched the Awesome Sports Writing Contest, offering cash awards to youth (20 & under) and adults writing about girls’ and women’s sports. Deadline is January 15, 2017. Male and female writers of all ages (and level of writing experience) are welcome. The submission must be nonfiction and about girls’ and women’s sports.
I encourage you to find your voice and share your story!
Monday’s Pen to Paper: Spread Love and Bring the Country Together
My dad is not a citizen of the United States. I like to tell people that he’s an Alien (a Legal Alien). He has lived in the United States, run a business in the United States and paid taxes in the United States for nearly 60 years, since he married my mom and moved here in the 60’s, but he cannot vote. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have an opinion, he does, but it does mean, that even though my mom votes, we never got too caught up in politics. I grew up loving where I live and appreciating other countries and cultures.
I was in college when I could have voted for the first time but didn’t. I was busy with school, basketball and a boyfriend when George H W Bush was elected. I didn’t vote at the next presidential election either, I had recently been in a terrible car accident where I was injured and lost my fiancé. I didn’t care about the election. Nothing really mattered to me when Bill Clinton took over the White House. It was later, when I had kids, that I started to care about politics and voting and changes that might happen in my community and in our world.
Raising kids gave me a reason to care more about the future. As a young girl I had been in the midst of great change in women’s rights; I played sports all through school and even went to college on a basketball scholarship thanks to Title IV. And though I never thought much about it when I was young, I knew what it was like to be discriminated against. After college, when I would go to play basketball at open gyms, many of the guys […]
Meet Sonya
Meet Sonya
Sonya Elliott’s memoir, Back on the Court: A Young Woman’s Triumphant Return to Life, Love & Basketball, is her story of finding hope in the wake of tragedy after she and her fiancé were hit by a train. She blogs about writing, basketball, and life and is currently working on a Young Adult Novel and a Non-Fiction Coaching book. Stories of her career as a fashion model are woven through her memoir, as both the Soloflex and Easy Spirit Shoes commercials were filmed during that time period, and this unique and intriguing business continues to be a part of her life.
Sonya played basketball at Eastern Washington University and was a starter for the Big Sky Champion team that went to the 1987 NCAA tournament. She coached for almost 25 years and was voted Seattle Times Coach of the Year, Seattle Officials Women’s Basketball Association Coach of the Year, and twice voted Metro League Coach of the Year. She loves the game of basketball and is thankful, not only for her husband and kids but for her ability to continue to get back on the court.
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Life Inspired Fitness: Do What You Love
I’ve always tried to do the things that I love to stay healthy and happy. Sometimes I put me second to everything and everyone else in my life, and that’s okay for a while, but as my good friend and writer Jenny says, “no one can pour from an empty cup.” So that’s what this blog is about, staying healthy by finding what it is that makes you happy, and doing it.
Other than my time at the computer writing, I am usually on the go. I walk my dog, go up and down stairs in my house all day long, work in the yard, and stay busy managing and fixing real estate properties. But what keeps me fit, is taking the time to do the things I love. I play tennis and run on occasion, but what gets me moving, […]
PEACELOVEBASKETBALL: From Facial Hair To Underwear: Routines, Rituals & Superstitions
I wore the same pair of underwear for all but one basketball game over my three years of middle school, and you guessed it, that one game when I didn’t wear them, we lost. And though this is way too much information already, I will clarify that yes, I did wash them between every game. This is only one indication of how crazy athletes can get when it comes to their superstitions.
If you asked me now if I really believed that it mattered what underwear I wore to the middle school games, I would say no, and even back then, if pushed, I would have said no. Yet, once it all started and the winning streak was happening I just figured it didn’t hurt. Fortunately, I didn’t continue that superstition into high school and college but I did have little rituals that […]
PEACELOVEBASKETBALL & PEN TO PAPER: Writing Wisdom
When I was coaching I gave journals to all of my players and to the kids who came to our summer camps. I found that writing was a good way for them to set personal goals, learn about team concepts and discover things about themselves and each other.
Some players cherished their journals and even brought them home and used them on their own throughout the season. Others simply left them in their lockers for the times when we had organized writing exercises and goal settings. But I loved that every time we wrote in the journals, noses went straight to the page and pens where scratching away. The girls had things to say, thoughts to be written. I believe that all the players and campers benefitted from the experience in one way or another as it gave them the opportunity to delve into their thoughts on the importance of teamwork, […]
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