What about the kids? A friendly chat

[bighit8]

I am posting this in response to jeffj post. A tragic loss for him. So post what you think fits. My son is on the far right in front of me.scan0001.jpg

[Pain Freak]

Lucky man!

[bighit8]

Sorry far left not right!

[jeffj]

Thanks. I didn't want to further derail the Path sale thread.

One of the first things I learned about coaching was that there is way more to it than just teaching the game, running practices and managing matches.

The first team I was actually the head coach for was a U14G team. I ended up having the first pick in the draft and also had the last pick in the draft and was left with a girl that was "sick often". Turns out she had cystic fibrosis, weighed 58lbs and was a virtual shut in since her parents were very cautious about her getting sick. Her parents brought her to the first practice and she was so happy to be out playing with other kids, it really touched me. She wasn't very skilled, but she still managed to fit right in with the other girls.

Her parents told me she likely would miss matches and probably would be winded after only a few minutes so I talked to our Commissioner and they said they would allow me to sub her as often as necessary so she could still play. A few days later, her parents called to say they were pulling her from the team because they were worried about her getting injured or sick.

That's when it first hit me that it was about so much more than the game. It's about young people's lives and it hurt to know that young girl really wanted to be out playing with other kids, but couldn't.

In the years since, I've been through a lot of ups and downs. The downs have mostly been injuries. Many broken limbs, ACL injuries, internal injuries, broken noses, whiplash, knocked unconscious and more.

I had the paramedics already at a match for one girl and had another whose heartrate suddenly shot up to 244bpm, so the paramedics had to stop her heart and defibrilate her (successfully thank goodness) at the field while the match was still going on.

I've been to the Emergency Room with kids on my teams more times than I care to remember, but this incident was something I didn't see coming.

I spent last weekend driving a sag wagon for my daughter's collegiate cycling team as they completed a 220 mile two day ride. We had a GREAT weekend and I was truly thankful to have have spent a weekend like that with such fine young people. I got the phone call about Bryan's passing Sunday when we returned to Santa Barbara. It went from the 'best of times' to the 'worst of times' in an instant.

Bryan was as nice a young man as I've ever had the pleasure of coaching. He was the best player on my team, but not cocky or arrogant. He was always smiling as he just loved playing the game and never gave me an ounce of trouble.

I went to visit his parents earlier this week and they showed me his room. The walls were covered with every soccer jersey he'd ever played in. He was also a 4.0+ GPA student in high school and had just started at the local junior college this fall. He also made the soccer team at the college and I expected him to leave our team since you can't play both (NCAA rules), but he left that team instead to play for us since we will also be playing in the spring.

My son and I went to the visitation earlier this evening and his funeral is Tuesday. It really hits home how life can change in the blink of an eye.

Bighit, I have a feeling you know how special it is to be able to spend this quality time with your kids and the kids of others too.

Regards,
Jeff

[bighit8]

Yea at the end of the season my kids ( i call them that) gave me a card at our pizza party. I will keep it for a life time. It was just awesome to see how they learned the game so fast and how they became a team!I told them all at the start of the season win or lose have fun. Each and everyone of you will score a goal if you help each other. Well that happened, so I was very happy.