Yay Saints!

I got a call from hubby last night. The Special Olympics softball team he and Angel #1 coach took a gold medal in the state games on Oahu this weekend. I guess they kicked some major butt. They worked hard and I'm glad they medaled. But, the cool thing about Special Olympics is that even if they hadn't won, they really wouldn't have cared. I've even seen them cheer for the opposing team when they make a good play.

Though I love the Special Olympics and it serves a very important purpose for those who otherwise wouldn't have the opportunities to play games like that in their lives, I'm not a big fan of sports and hate the atmosphere most kids teams seem to have lately. The parents get much too involved in their kids games and many seem to be out for blood. I remember playing little league when I was a kid, we didn't have uniforms, the coach (who happened to be my dad) provided a lot of the equipment for the team and the only practices I can remember are when we got together an hour or so before the game and tossed the ball around. The game didn't take over our lives. I also remember once when the star hitter was up to bat for an opposing team. While at the plate getting ready to bat, he mouthed off to his coach. The coach immediately pulled him from the game and made him sit the bench for the remainder. Know what, I don't recall a single parent complaining about this kid getting punished, everyone knew he deserved it, even if it did affect the teams chance of winning. I don't remember who won that game or anything else, but I do remember that coach trying to teach the kids the principles of playing together on a team and having respect for others. From what I've read about youth sports no days, that coach probably would have been confronted by irate parents and been thrown out of the league. Things just aren't like they used to be. My kids never belonged to organized sports, but I remember sitting with hubby on the front porch on many warm summer nights watching our kids play with the neighbors in our front yard. We called what they were playing Calvinball, after the infamous game Calvin and Hobbes would play in the comic strip. There didn't seem to be any rules and the game didn't make any sense to us adults, but the kids all knew what they were doing and were having a blast doing it. It's too bad more kids don't have the freedom to play just for the sake of playing anymore. People seem to think they need to supervise their kids 24/7 or they're bad parents. I think kids are more like a garden, keep them watered and fertilized, pull out the weeds once in a while and let'em go.