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Community Corner

Mom as Coach Brings Joy and Challenges

Tips on becoming your child's sporting coach.

When no one stepped up to be my son's t-ball team coach this season, another mom on the team came to me and suggested we take on the job and coach together.  

At first, I did not know if I could commit to the many weekend games that t-ball requires, but then I thought this would be a great way to demonstrate to my son that his mom does possess a life outside of picking up after him, doing his laundry and cooking his meals.  Wow, this could demonstrate that his mom actually knew the rules of baseball!  

It turned out to be good timing, as I had begun to feel left out of the whole father/son activity circuit.  With boys, it seems that a lot of activities are geared towards being with their dads like attending sporting events together, Indian Guides, Boy Scout campouts, etc. 

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During our first game, I experienced my first reality check in coaching young children.  It is less about actually teaching them the sport than it is about getting them to sit still on the bench, not wack each other with their bats, not leave the dugout to go play on the playground during a game, not asking to go to the snack shack to get food while they are supposed to be covering first base and so on.  

I was exhausted when I got home that day.  But, low and behold, as the season has go on, the boys have excelled at learning where the positions are, have done their best to stay safe in the dugout, have held off their hunger cravings until after the game and have made coaching a real joy to watch the kids improve.

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