Monday’s Pen to Paper: A Thousand words or at Least Ten Minutes
A picture is worth a thousand words right? or a least 10 minutes of writing practice. Take a look at the photo below and get to work!
WRITING PROMPT:
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Bring Your Team Together with Fun
I felt a little guilty last week. I went away and took some time for myself. I had a good excuse, I turned 50, and though I shouldn’t need an excuse to take some “me” time (everyone needs to “refill their cup” from time to time), my birthday did make it easier to spoil myself.
So I went to Utah. I hiked five to seven miles every morning in Snow Canyon Park, practiced yoga, did rehab on my shoulder and wrist, read, wrote and relaxed. One day I even tried water aerobics (good for my shoulder), and the crazy thing was that by the end of the class, though I was smiling, I felt a deep sadness. You might be thinking, “well you did just turn 50,” but that wasn’t it. The water aerobics class made me miss coaching.
Kind of an odd connection, but at the end of the workout, when we paired up with another person in the class for a final activity, I was transported back to the gym, to my years of coaching, when I would pair up girls for team building activities. Poolside, while the old farts (me included), waded around the pool to find partners, I thought of my former players. In the aerobics class we used foam noodles and did silly exercises, and though my cranky old brain was thinking, “this is stupid, I don’t want to do this,” my coaching brain was thinking, “this would be a great team builder for my girls.” And that’s when I got sad, because they’re not my girls anymore. Still, I imagined the players hopping in the pool, grabbing teammates and wrestling around in the water. I could imagine their faces lighting up, just as surprisingly enough, the faces of […]
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Fuel Your Passion
If you love to play basketball it makes it easier to work at practice everyday. Having passion for your sport or activity makes working hard easier, but it doesn’t mean that it will always be easy. Practice is practice, and it’s not always fun.
If you’re finding it hard to get out of bed and get to work on the court, take a moment to listen to your body and mind. Sometimes it’s a matter of pushing yourself a bit more but there are times when you need a break.
Is your body hurting, not sore, but hurting? Take a short break to heal.
Do you feel burnt out? Have you lost your passion? Your love of the game can get covered up by expectations and stress. Will I make Varsity? Will I start? Will I be good enough to play in college? Will I be able to keep my grades up? What will my parents think? What will my peers think? What will my teammates think?
Take a moment to listen to your heart and soul.
Often all it takes is a reminder of why you are on the court, of your love of the game, and that alone will give you the energy to push through the tough days and work hard. If you need a quick break to rekindle your passion, take it. Eat healthy and get lots of sleep and then get out of your head and onto the court, and have fun.
If you LOVE to play, then PLAY! Fuel your passion with your love of the game.
Monday’s Pen to Paper: Distraction and the Social Media Madness
Our lives are filled with distraction. Now it comes at us 24/7 by way of social media. Look around you. How often do you see people staring at their phones as they walk, drive or even while they’re in conversation? Are they fully engaged in life or are they disconnected and living through the lives of others via social media? Don’t get me wrong, I’m on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Linked In and I enjoy catching up and seeing what my friends are doing. And I post for work and to update my friends and family. But when I’m looking at social media, more often than not, I get annoyed because I know there is no way I can keep up with all the data coming in, all the pictures, the videos, and the updates, yet at times, I waste my time trying. I see it affecting the loved ones around me as well.
My teenagers are glued to SnapChat (which is way beyond me). And my husband over the past year has gotten addicted to Instagram and Twitter. Yes, he reads some news on these sites, but he also gets his mini adrenaline rush each day by watching video feeds of daredevils on motorcycles or people taking near death strolls along towering cliffs and skyscrapers, or by watching MMA fighters beat one another up and talk smack. A narrowcasting of social media geared to his liking. But too much of a good thing is not always a good thing.
Distraction.
It’s easy to go down the rabbit hole. You pop onto Facebook to see what your friends are up to. Next thing you know you’ve watched a few funny or inspiring videos that someone has forwarded and you haven’t even caught up with what […]
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.
Blog
PEACELOVEBASKETBALL: Always Be Prepared
As a coach it’s important to be prepared. To be prepared for upcoming games, for your upcoming season and especially for your practices. Yet at the same time, you need to be flexible. When I was coaching I would spend a lot of time planning for the approaching season, what skills and concepts we should work on in practice and when. And though the plans often changed as the season progressed, had I not started each season with a plan, our teams would have struggled.
As an assistant coach I remember thinking that ten practice days (the mandatory practices needed to play in the first game) was plenty to get a team ready for the first game. As a head coach, there is never enough time. There is a lot to cover before that first game, especially if you have a lot of […]
Monday’s Pen to Paper: Why Do We Write?
This week I was reading about creating, and why we do it, and what keeps us going. As a writer, it’s easy to forget, it’s easy to wonder why the hell we spend hours upon hours jotting down words and then rearranging them into unsatisfactory combinations, until we find that we kind of like them, or we give up. Oh, occasionally there are the moments when we are truly happy with the results, but that is not often and comes with a lot of work and so we wonder, why? Why do we torture ourselves this way? And then we get a reminder. Sometimes it’s a nudge, sometimes it’s a 2×4 across the head, but whatever it is, it resonates with us, and keeps up going.
That’s what happened to me when I read this one line. “We write to share.”
Ah, yes. That’s it. […]
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Which Defense is the Best?
Defense is my favorite part of the game and man-to-man is my favorite defense. It’s my favorite to play, my favorite to teach during practice, and my favorite to use when I’m coaching a game. I also believe that every player should be taught man-to-man and play a lot of man-to-man, even though it’s not always the perfect solution in a game.
Players and teams should be taught man-to-man because it can be effective against opponents and because when players learn man-to-man, they learn the basic fundamentals of defense. I used the “10 to Win” Westside Rules of Defense when I was coaching at West Seattle. These rules set a precedent for what was expected; for players to stay low and close out aggressive but under control, to keep their hands up and out and to read their opponents, to jump […]
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