Stretching Ourselves

I believe sports can allow an athlete to realize they are capable of more than they have imagined. An athlete can on the athletic field do something individually or as part of a team which shocks them. Obviously such an achievement is exciting. But the real value of doing something like this in athletics is if it provides a lesson to use in other, more important areas of life. Maybe these kinds of experiences allow an athlete who is planning on college to set a higher and more challenging goal in their studies. Maybe they realize they can set higher career goals.

The following short essay by author Jon Gordon, deals with this topic--

Great Summer

We had a great summer of basketball. We had over 40 high girls involved in our summer basketball programs. We had a lot of girls improve their skills and get better this summer.

Ally Auriemma Tribute to Pat Summit

You are aware of the conflict between Tennessee and UConn in women's basketball. This is an wonderful tribute to Pat Summit written by the Ally Auriemma, the daughter of Coach Auriemma.

A Tribute to Pat Summitt. (Yes. Seriously.)

Note: I have never told this story outside of my family.  It seems appropriate, given that Coach Summitt received the Arthur Ashe award for Courage at this past weeks' ESPY awards.  It's also appropriate because this year is the 40th anniversary of Title IX, something I will be discussing in another post.

When I was eleven years old, Pat Summitt called me.

I don't mean she called my house looking for Dad, or called home by mistake in search of an office phone.  No.  This was a deliberate phone call, by Pat Summitt, looking for me. "Hello, Alysa, this is Pat Summitt from Tennessee."  Verbatim.

I was eleven.  We had just started our rivalry with Tennessee.  To say I was terrified of Pat Summitt is understating the point.  She is an icon of the sport.  She's naturally terrifying because of her intensity, her drive, her winning history...it's PAT SUMMITT.  I mean, cripes!

Kevin Garnett's Demand

Kevin Eastman, Boston Celtic assistant coach told an interesting story about Kevin Garnett. 

When a player is traded in the NBA, when he first meets with his new head coach, there are some horror stories of players who immediately issue selfish demands to their new head coach. "I expect you to get me 15 shots per game." "I need to play 35 minutes per game but don't play me over 40 minutes per game." You get it, selfish demands.

4th of July

Glenn, Oswald, Grandma, Ford, Wendell, Dwayne

Growing up in the 1950's & 1960's, the 4th of July meant one thing- the Massey's getting together. Today it is the "Massey Reunion", back then it was just the Massey brother's getting together with their children and grandchildren.

My grandfather (Cornelius) and my grandmother (Roberta) had five sons. The sons in order of birth were Glenn, Wendell, Wright, Oswald, and Dwayne. Two times a year, the brothers always got together- the Fourth of July and Christmas Eve. As long as they were alive, I don't remember any of them ever missing. It did not matter if the Fourth was on the middle of the week or a weekend, at noon the Massey brothers & families got together.