An Appetite for Coaching

All this Cycling, Running and Swimming has gotten me into a completely different state of mind. I am finding myself eating with less abandon, well actually more? My point is I am not counting calories finally I have trained myself to stay away from the bad things and bad snacks and I now pile on the good things. I have actually gained a few pounds over the last few weeks but had to once again poke a new hole in my belt. I am almost an inch and a half smaller.

I made this a light week of training and will kind of pile it up at the end of the week so I will get the same miles in but kind of back loaded it. The reason you may ask? This year I coached my sons baseball team and this week was playoff week.  We were "one and done" but the experience will stay with me for the rest of my life. I am a lifer when it comes to baseball as you may have already figured out from reading this blog. I have been helping my son’s coaches as an assistant for the last few years and really not getting too invested in the process or the kids because of the restrictions I have with my real job. This season I was asked to take a team on and my son happened to be standing close by and heard the question before I could deflect it and avoid the commitment. It’s not that I did not want to do it, it was that I did not think I could do it and do the job the way it needs to be done. 

I love the game and would not want to slight any of the kids assigned to my team my total and undivided attention but when your own son has been begging you to do it and then he knows you have been asked to do it you are kind of stuck unless you are just a heartless SOB.

The experience was one of the best experiences I have ever had in my entire life. Yes it was a lot of work but is it really work when you are having as much fun as the kids are? I was sore each Tuesday and Wednesday after our Monday night practices but still managed to get up and kill my workouts and now I look forward to the summer off from baseball because training is going to be a breeze without having to pitch a triple header each Monday night.  The playoff loss hurt not because we lost but because the season was now over. I wanted to continue to see these kids progress, get better and continue to emerge not only in their talents but in their personalities. As I got to know these quiet little kids and they me, we started to have more and more fun.

I told the kids before our last game that they would remember that game for the rest of their life. I may have been thinking this to myself out loud when I said it because I know I will remember that game forever as well.