The art of play

I get a lot of comments/emails from people that tell me that for a blog about youth sports, I sure write a lot about everything but youth sports!

I guess the reason for that is that I find my inspiration from everyday life. I write about what comes to my mind when I am driving; watching a movie; running; or traveling. I went through my previous posts from the last year, and realized that my blog is not about just youth sports. Its about life.

The plight of youth sports today is really a reflection of what going on today in our hyper-competitive, uber-focused, and mentally draining way of life. Our kids are being pushed, and pushed, and pushed....with very little direction on what the objective is at the end of the day. For parents today, it seems that it is more about the process, than the actual accomplishment of goals.

I spend most of my day working with kids, getting to know their families, and helping everyone stay on course. What strikes me at almost every instance is how much we can learn from kids and about how they approach the process to sports, school, and life.

More coming in the next post.......

Four Days To Glory

Four Days To Glory
Originally uploaded by wr_downing33.

If you haven't had time to grab it yet, pick up Mark Kreidler's book, Four Days To Glory. A profound story about Iowa wrestling and the struggles that two high schoolers encounter along the way.

I will post more on it, when I am done with the book.

Prosper.com - changing the lending industry

If you haven't checked out www.prosper.com than you are missing out on a piece of history in the making. For a little over a year, Prosper has been effectively cutting out banks and credit card companies. Much like the rest of the web 2.0 companies, Prosper is dependent on social networking. This time instead of looking for a date or re-connect with old friends, people arrive at prosper looking to borrower or lend money.

I have been lending money for about 30 days now, and without too much disappointment the program has gone according to plan. I am going to post more details on prosper in a few weeks after some of my loans will be in process.

In meantime check out www.prosper.com.

Sonic Burger

In Woodland, CA there is an old-fashioned burger joint. Milkshakes, burgers, chilli fries, the works. They will even serve the food to you in your car as you park along the patio. Your food is brought to you by a waiter or waitress on roller skates.

But, for all the hype I was disappointed with the experience. First, the menu interface was confusing. Second, the speaker and mic didn't work well. They couldn't hear us and we couldn't hear them. When we tried to pay with our credit card, it didn't work.

The food was great, but the technology needs fixing.

Documentary

We are really excited to announce today that we will be producing a short documentary entitled: "The Sociology of Youth Sports." Heading up this creative venture for us is Joe Jaszewski, a photographer with The Idaho Statesman, and freelance photographer for all the big names, among others. His photos have been on the front page of USA Today. He's got game, and we are stoked to have his help. He is also my best friend since 1st grade.

More info to follow shortly. We will be offering the video online or via DVD.

Book Excerpt - Sociology of the Family

A lot of people have asked that I post some parts of my book that is due out on June 1st, 2007. Here is a small section on the chapter entitled: Sociology of the Family.

Sociology of the Family.

Participating in youth sports is not just about sports. Its about family.

The effects of youth sports on an athlete and the family is one of the most under-researched dynamics of the development of children. Today, student-athletes are pushed to the limits; overloaded with homework, burdened by the pressures to win, and surrounded by a changing social network of friends and peer issues. Even for the most well-adjusted, mature and motivated child, these pressures can build up over time.

While, there are now more studies about how youth sports play a role in the lives of student-athletes, very few speak to the changes that occur to families when children participate in sports.

In our society today, the American family is ever changing. In the 1950’s, the traditional American family had a stay at home mom, a bread-winning father, and two children. This model of family life created profound change in the way our communities were developed and constructed. In her book, Redesigning The American Dream, Yale professor Dolores Hayden speaks passionately about how homes, neighborhoods, and parks were created specifically for the “traditional” family.

As the role of mothers changed in our society, and as they made a larger push into corporate America, the family model altered. The Second Shift, a monumental book written by Arlie Hochschild outlined the family model in this new state, and the effects of women having to work two shifts a day – one at the office during the day, and a second shift at home with children.

The effects of youth sports on the family are not as well documented, but needless to say just as influential.

Consider this: depending on what club team your son or daughter plays for effects several issues pertaining to family. First, it effects who your child is friends with. In most cases, children are more likely to socialize with their teammates than with peers from their school. Much of this is due to the time commitment players put in with their club teams. In some cases, children will spend 20-30 hours a week with their team.

What club team your son or daughter plays for effects who parents hang out with. For families who have children playing youth sports it seems as though all available time outside of school is allocated to sports. As a result, these families and the players spend vacations together (usually at tournaments), and become a social network of sorts. Moms can be seen sitting along the sidelines of games in their usual groups. Dads will pace up down the field yelling out support, or perhaps hassling the referee. After the games, many times the teams will retreat back to the hotel or go out for dinner. At the restaurant, players will sit together, while parents sit at their own table. Over the course of the meal, parents will talk about the game, work, family life, schools, or even discuss the remodel they just did to their house. All in all, these people become family. One parent remarked, “It is really amazing how close you become with some of the other parents. I guess we all get used to seeing one another almost every weekend of the year. If my son wasn’t on this team, I don’t think I would have ever had the opportunity to meet some of these folks.” Given the diversity of many of these teams, it fascinating to see how parents can come together bonded by only one thing – their kids play on the same team.

The effects on the family don’t stop there. In many ways, a family is very much branded by the athlete in the family. The family can become known as the soccer family or the baseball family. This comes as a direct result of the achievements made by the student-athlete.

....... more to come. please leave me your comments.

Dulles Airport

Dulles Airport
Originally uploaded by wr_downing33.

Took this picture as I was departing from Dulles. Anyone notice anything about the sequence of flags?

The Crossover Movement

Mike deep in thought
Originally uploaded by wr_downing33.

A good friend of mine, Coach Brian McCormick has just penned his lastest book entitled, "Cross Over: The New Model for Youth Basketball Development." This book focuses on youth bastketball in the USA, but encompasses a much larger issue --- the overrall development of student-athletes in our country. This book should serve as a resource to players, parents and coaches as they continually re-evaluate the programs and protocols of youth sports surrounding our children.

Brian's step-by-step breakdown of the system helps to shed light on a part of child development that is left in the stone-ages -- youth sports.

Hopefully with likes of Brian and others coming into the national scene as coaches and administrators (as well as authors) the nature of the game, and those participating, will grow and prosper.

Check out his website: www.thecrossovermovement.com

A very cold day in Washingto DC

White House
Originally uploaded by wr_downing33.

While the weather was still frigid here in Washington DC, the political battle for the 2008 Presidential race was heating up.

Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani semi-announced that we was jumping into the race. Though he has stayed much out of the fray thus far, most polls have shown him leading John McCain. If he can mitigate his spotty record as NYC Mayor (pre-9/11), find a way to connect with the ultra conservative Republican base, and play up his post-9/11 leadership, he might be the only hope for the Republicans.

I didn't get much of a chance to soak in DC today, but I can say that it was easily -10 below with the wind chill.

Online Store

Our Soccer/Sports group just launched a website where you can purchase merchandise. We are going to be adding more and more products in the coming days and weeks.....

In the meantime, check it out and see if there is any gear that you really like.

You can visit the site, by going to www.elite-soccer.com, and clicking online store.

Or you can click, here.

Stop KFC

Stop KFC
Originally uploaded by wr_downing33.

I thought this was an interesting sign.

The 405

The 405
Originally uploaded by wr_downing33.

On Friday, a large crane collasped on the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles. Traffic wasn't able to get through for nearly three hours. Here's what the roads in and around Westwood looked like.

I had a particularly good look at the roadways because my rental car broke down and I had to walk all the way back to the hotel. There is no doubt that the traffic in LA eclipses that of the bay area.

UCLA

As a Cal alum & fan, I have been taught to hate everything that is UCLA.

After meetings today, I had a chance to visit the campus and run throughout the area. I was expecting to be bored; afterall, this was not Cal (How good could it be?)

There was an energy on campus. It was really neat as I ran through the campus seeing a real diverse student population. The hacky sackers were in the quad; the international kids were all playing soccer; other were playing tennis, or going to the library.

It was an unique experience. I must say that UCLA seemed like a very engaging university. Don't get me wrong, Cal is still better.....but UCLA wasn't that bad.

On the farm

Originally uploaded by wr_downing33.

Today, I went to visit a client of ours, and on my way off the ranch, I was stopped by this guy. Not much other to report than that.....

Lots more blogging in the next day or so...