History

History

This year is Arsenal FC's (English Football Club) 125 year of existence.  They are having a ceremony and putting up statues this coming Saturday of some of the Arsenal "legends".  The three people being memorialized in stone are Herbert Chapman, Tony Adams, and Thierry Henry.

It got me thinking about "legends" and how much I knew about these "legends".  I have never been to a game in London and I may never be.  I have had the opportunity to watch Henry (French name pronounced - onray) here in Colorado. He actually scored and my friends said I stopped breathing for a few minutes, it was a very cool night. Let me tell you why these three are famous and then I'll go into some other "legends".

Witnessing

Witnessing

Let me start out by saying how humbled I am.  This blog passed the 300 views mark this week and I am just humbled that people not only read once but continue to come back for what I have to say. I hope that what I am writing down helps and helps you with raising your athlete(s).

Even though my hope is that parents and childrens ministry workers will come to this blog to see how they can help their child(ren) grow closer to Christ through sports and sports analogies.  I am going to take a break from that and speak about another way we can use sports for the glory of God.

It is in our interaction with parents/coaches/other observers. What better opportunity do you as a parent have to show and/or talk about your faith. If you are a childrens ministry person reading this.  Instead of fighting sports all the time, let's work on equipping parents who may be interested in using these ideas and reaching out while involved with sports.

Winning Again

Winning Again

Every game or contest has a winner.  Sometimes we are on the good side of winning and others we are on the not so good side of losing. If our children are on either side we want to make sure we teach them how to be a gracious loser and also how to be a gracious winner.

A gracious winner is somebody who takes winning in stride.  Knowing they won on that day but also know they won’t always win and that it’s ok not to win.  Somebody who respects their opponents, somebody who knows that winning is the outcome of hard work, somebody who strives to be their best, and somebody who is willing to help others get better as well. Gracious winners are what we are hoping our children become, now and later on when they grow up and move into the adult world.

Winners

Losing is a hard concept to teach kids since there are so many emotions involved.  Winning can be just as hard to teach kids - and remember as adults.

Winning at sports can create an over zealous sense of importance and cause a child to base their identity on being an athlete or even worse identify themselves as a winner at all costs.  This would be someone who walks over others to win because they enjoy too much the emotions that come with winning.  I am not saying we need to knock our kids down a peg or two (although it might be tempting sometime) but instead we teach our kids to be gracious winners and treat others with respect even while winning.  I will be presenting 3 things not to do and why and then next week three practical ways you can help your child become a gracious winner. 

One thing I will say to do all the time is to celebrate your child winning. 

They should be rewarded for doing a good job and reaching thier goals. Celebrate with them, get excited, tell them how excited you are, jump up and down at the final whistle, or pitch, or at the end of their routine.  Don't hide excitement and don't forget to celebrate wins and a good effort in their competition.  Having said that, here are the three things I recommend you not do when a kid wins.

Losing Again

Losing is never easy.  It's not easy for the losers or those close to the losers.  Even grown ups can have their mood altered based on how "their team" fares in a game.  Losing is however more than just part of sports, it is a major part of life.  How you raise up your athlete to deal with losing can effect how they deal with some of the bigger losses they will encounter in their life. 

There are ways you can help your child with losing.

In the last blog I mentioned some ways I have seen parents deal with their children losing that I do not recommend.  In this blog I want to look at some things I have seen parents do very well.  The biggest thing that can be done is to keep things consistent.  If you are trying to help your kid feel better then that is what you will accomplish.  If you are trying to teach your child how to deal with loss then that is what you will do. 

Losers

Losers

The word losers conjures up a couple of images in my mind.  The first is slack shoulders, a bent head, and heavy sighs.  The second is the El Dorado Flame.

The El Dorado Flame were suppose to be a competitive soccer team, but when games finished with other teams in local leagues we were not very competitive. Score lines were normally 8-1, 4-0, the worst was 18-0. It was a perpetual feeling of losing.

Identity Revisited

It’s  been a while since I’ve written something here due to my duties for our summer ministry with UW. I am very excited to get back into the swing of things and even have a couple of buffers written just in case something pops up.  I left you with a cliffhanger (I apologize) of what my identity is now.

Identity

Identity - ī déntətee - n. - what identifies somebody or something: the name or essential character that identifies somebody or something

This word is important.  One of my favorite movie parts ever is in the Gladiator when Maximus reveals who he is... he has this identity...

 “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.”

He knows who he is.  It does help that it's a script, but that's besides the point. 

Everyone has an identity like that - even your children! 

The Masters - pt. 2

I had one more thought about Tiger Woods and my cheering for him during the Masters recently.

This thought was, how do we as parents help kids choose role models?

If I had a kid that wanted to play golf, I would show him videos of Tiger Woods.  The greatest shots, the best putts, and the focus/determination he had on each shot.  I would encourage my child to learn about Tiger and how he got so good.  I would let him/her look up to Tiger! That would stop at golf.

The Masters - pt. 1

Whether it's good or bad, I cheered for Tiger Woods this weekend.

The first time in a long time.  Doing so brought many thoughts to my mind about living in a fallen world and where my place is in it.

Once I really liked watching Tiger Woods golf.  Every shot you were hoping for one of the most amazing things you had ever seen, whether a 350+ yard drive, an iron shot that stopped inches from the pin, or a putt that circulated around an entire green to fall in.  These shots are the reason that I loved watching Tiger.

Quality Communication

I can talk about football (soccer) for hours and hours.  I can explain to a child how to play the game well.  I can explain the rules of the game.  I can explain every single little detail of soccer to any age child. 

Can I explain the grace of God as eloquently?  Or describe the trinity to a child? Can I talk for hours about prayer?

Kids Watch

As a parent you know your kids pick up EVERYTHING you do.  The good and the bad.  This is true about everything including where your time is spent, what your conversations are about, and how you prioritize different things.  What we do as parents is even more important then what we say. 

Sports seems to bring out the best and worst in players and fans alike.