Monday’s Pen to Paper: Where are you from?
My daughter finally finished the book “Outliers: The Story of Success” by Malcolm Gladwell, that I wrote about in an earlier blog, and she mentioned another interesting tidbit, “…that it matters where you are from.” We’re talking grandparents, great-grands, great-great-grands and down the line.
Now mind you, I haven’t read the book. I’ve only listened to summaries of certain sections from my daughter. And as she explained interesting revelations from this writer, backed by certain studies, I found that I didn’t always agree with it, but I did like that it was thought-provoking and now my daughter was interested in where she came from.
“I’ve got the start of a family tree.” I told her, “And papers from both sets of your grandparents that you can sort through.” And just days later, when my daughter was talking to her great-grandmother on her 95th birthday, she learned more about where she came from including the fact that she is distantly related to Jesse James, a legend in the old west (not necessarily a good one as he and his gang robbed trains and banks). My daughter was hooked. Down came the box filled with blood lines and old photos.
Writing Prompt: Write about where you came from…
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Change It Up
I’ve been playing a lot of tennis. Okay, well 5 times in the last two weeks might not constitute “a lot”, but considering that I usually play twice a year, it’s definitely more than the norm for me. Two weeks ago I made a vow to be active everyday (more than just working in the yard and climbing three sets of stairs each time I did a load of laundry. Although every bit helps). I had been in a slump with my workouts.
So I hit the YMCA for early morning basketball, ran the dogs, attended a bootcamp that kicked my ass, and pulled out my tennis racket. Huh?
My husband and I aren’t tennis players but we are both former college athletes that have stayed in decent shape, so over the years we have pulled out the rackets and played using our athleticism. We are not skilled at tennis, nor do we look it on the court. He, with his bad knees, hobbles and jabs at the ball. I have a frozen shoulder from a past injury, so my swing is ugly, and sometimes I do a silly kick that is not attractive. We don’t even play real tennis, I mean, tennis with a serve. We play 21, we volley the ball twice across the net and then play for a point, up to 21 points.
Still we have found that we can get a good workout and have fun. (Especially now that my husband doesn’t try to coach me the entire time).
Sometimes a little change-up in your workouts, can be good for your body and your soul.
Get out there and try something different.
Monday’s Pen to Paper: Memories
All weekend I’ve been sorting through photos. I’m putting together a little something for my parent’s 50th Wedding Anniversary (Surprise Mom). It’s been slow going as I have a box of old family photos from the time before I had a camera, photo albums from the time I got my Kodak to the time my son was born (about 17 years of albums),and then back to boxes of half-labeled envelopes of photos after Cass was born, (yes Cass, we did take photos of you when you were a baby too) up until I got a Mac Book for my 40th birthday nearly 7 years ago. Then I went digital.
That wasn’t much better. I swore I would keep up with the photos and photo albums, and did for the first 6 months. Now, as of three weeks ago, my computer is so full of photos that I can not download more onto it. All this to say, the search for Anniversary photos was not a simple task, however, it was a fun one.
As I thumbed through photos I’d grab my iPhone and snap a picture of a picture and text it to a friend. A moment from the past that I’d forgotten had been captured. A time when their kids and my kids were young and holding hands or playing baseball together. That’s when I thought of the perfect writing prompt, even if it was a day late.
Writing Prompt: I remember when…
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday:
I put on a basketball camp this week for girls between 2nd and 8th grade. Our high school players coached the young athletes. The campers had a blast. All were exhausted by the last day, campers and coaches alike. But oh to see the smiles. A good reminder of why I coach.
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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PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Dance With the Girl That Brung Ya’
I’ve been coaching for 25 years, and with every team that I’ve had, I like to keep things simple, focus on the fundamentals. That doesn’t mean that I won’t throw in a triangle and 2 defense or adjust my offense, but that’s once the players know the fundamentals and understand the basic offenses and defenses that we are running.
When talking about the importance of fundamentals, my husband always brings up wrestling (He was a State Champion wrestler and his dad, also his coach, is a Hall of Fame Wrestling Coach) He’ll watch a wrestling match and say to me, “Why is that guy trying that crazy move? He should stick with the basics; a Cradle. A Half-Nelson. My dad always reminded us before the State Tournament, ‘Dance with the girl that brung ya’.'”
I haven’t pulled out that quote in practice, but I like what it says. Instead of trying all […]
Monday’s Pen to Paper: Follow
I just figured out how to follow or subscribe to a blog. That may seem a little CRAZY as I have been writing a blog for several years now, but there you go. That is my computer savyness in a nutshell. I don’t really know what the hell I’m doing, I just stumble along and figure it out as I go.
I’ve never really had the desire to follow blogs, because frankly, I don’t have the time. My inbox is currently at 3352 unread messages (I am not kidding here, I just checked). Recently however, I have been interested in keeping up with a few blogs, but I can never seem to surf my way through the interweb on a consistent basis to find them. And when I go on-the-line, (anyone getting my movie references here) I’m usually […]
PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Attitude Is Everything
During the summer my daughter is often a sub for my basketball teams. A couple of weeks ago, she played for one of my teams that she’s never played with before and after the game she climbed into the van and said, “That is the least fun I have ever had playing basketball.”
I agreed with her. (well since I’m old there may have been a few times in my life that have been worse, but it certainly hadn’t been fun.) What made the game bad, is that there were two women who complained the whole time and basically barked out orders. Nothing my daughter, or any of us did, was right.
The overall energy was negative. I could feel it, and as a 17-year-old playing in a women’s rec-league, my daughter could really feel it. I thanked my daughter for helping out (we were short players) and assured her that she wouldn’t […]
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