Poor Bean

Beaner came home from her volleyball game steaming tonight. To her credit KoKo did sports excel this summer. To her credit she was one of three girls who routinely attended. To her credit last year she could have ended her volleyball season early - as all but four of the girls in her class did - but instead she chose to play with the C team when the eighth grade season ended.

Yet, all that extra work and commitment amounts to nothing - despite what the parent/coach manual said about participating in extra workout sessions aided one's chances at playing time.

Beaner was the only one tonight not to play in the second game. Despite all of the extra work she put in.

And as a parent what do you tell your kid? You always tell them work hard, put in the extra time and it will pay off.

But that is not always the case.

So what do you tell your kid?

I tried the "well, sometimes you just have to know your place on the team." But when your place on the team isn't based on how much you work or how much you try to improve, what sense does that make?

I finally figured it out - you tell your kid to be a kid. That is why I told KoKo to piss on sports excel next summer - as most of our athletes have. I believe there were no senior girls involved and only a few juniors. They've caught on. And I don't blame them.

So I settled for the old standard - get an education. Athletics are fine, but, in the long run, they don't matter.

I played eight years of football, five years of baseball, and one season of hockey (now that is a story in itself) and I had many great memories, but the only thing - the only thing I learned was this - to focus on improving myself with each and every rep I took in practice. And that is the only life skill I ever took away.

And, in the end, that is exactly what I told Beaner.