PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Did I Make The Team Coach?
Basketball tryouts can be tough on everyone involved. As a kid trying out for a team, you’re stressed about making sure you do your best and not allowing your nerves to affect your performance so that you can make the team. As a coach you worry about selecting teams while giving every player a fair shake with a short time period to evaluate, and as a parent you watch while your child weather’s the storm and you function as their anchor, or at least that is the hope.
If you are a player reading this blog, I wish you all the best. Take a deep breath and hit the court with intensity and a positive attitude. And no matter the result, if you give your very best, that is all that really matters. If you don’t make the team or the level of team that you thought you should, it might hurt deep in your soul, but if you gave your all, there can be no regrets. Tears and frustration maybe, but no regrets. Instead, if you love basketball, use this as fuel to work harder over the next year, or if you’re not sure if basketball is your thing, use the opportunity to try something new that peaks your interest. Use this pivotal point in your life as inspiration. What is important to you? What do you really love to do?
If you’re a parent, it’s time to support your child. Be there for them no matter what happens. If they don’t make the team it will surely be a life changing experience, so help it to be a positive one. And if your son or daughter doesn’t end up making Varsity, that’s okay, they can have fun and learn to grow […]
Monday’s Pen to Paper: Peace
I attended a Mama-Needs-A-Refill Mini Yoga retreat this weekend. At the retreat we had a silent break to meditate, read, write, and simply be, and it was during this time that I started thumbing through the book, Creating True Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh. After a weekend that began with such violence in Paris, violence and hate that I just can’t understand, I read the subtitle, Ending Violence in Yourself, Your Family, Your Community, and the World, and started reading…
True peace is always possible. Yet it requires strength and practice, particularly in times of great difficulty. To some, peace and nonviolence are synonymous with passivity and weakness. In truth, practicing peace and nonviolence is far from passive. To practice peace, to make peace alive in us, is to actively cultivate understanding, love and compassion, even in the face of misperception and conflict. Practicing peace, especially in times of war, requires courage.
I read until we started class again and then asked if I could borrow the book. I haven’t finished it yet, but it has drawn me in. It feels good to focus on peace, to breathe in peace and believe that one day there can be peace in this world.
Chapter three, Peace Begins With Us, reminds the reader that one way to find peace is through love. Who are you grateful for? Share your love with those people.
WRITING PROMPT: Write a love letter.
Monday’s Pen to Paper: Make It Happen
I got a slow start to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), but last night I made myself get going, I sat down at my computer and wrote…and boy did it feel good.
Even if you don’t feel like it, you don’t think you have the time to do the things that you love to do, do them anyway, and feel joy seep into your heart.
WRITING PROMPT: Write about something that you love to do.
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Protect Our Kids…because the title of this blog could have easily been… “Another High School Football Player Seriously Injured.”
I saw the hit coming. I was at the top of the stadium watching my son’s high school football game and my stomach clenched as he ran a slant across the middle of the field while a freight train was headed in his direction. The F’word formed on my lips before the hit even happened, before my son leaped up to catch the pass, open and defenseless, to the oncoming hit. A hard tackle would have been bad, but I watched as a kid rammed his helmet into my son’s head and then pushed him to the ground. My son’s arms went slack and his body limp as he fell. The proud defender looked down upon him. I wanted to vomit.
I had just been telling another mom that I hated having to play these final games, when our high school had been eliminated from the playoffs. How I had wanted to be done with football this year. I was looking forward to basketball season and an opportunity for my son to grow and get stronger, make it safer for him to be playing football when the next season came around. He had even scheduled to meet with a trainer to better prepare himself for his junior year. But strength wouldn’t have helped him this night, strength wouldn’t have stopped that targeted hit. The bottom line is, changes need to take place in how the game of football is played, especially at the high school level.
My son has been throwing a football since he was three years old. Every time we go on a family walk, a football is in tow. Football is a part of family life at the Elliott house. I didn’t grow up around the game myself, […]
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
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 […]
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 […]
Follow Sonya