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The GoodLetter Thursday, June 20, 2002
GoodThings, Inc. :: Stories, actions, ideas, and greeting cards that connect us.
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This Week's Feature
The Love of the Game
by Jeff Cady
With soccer's World Cup being played in South Korea and Japan, the world is literally abuzz with sport. But with exorbitant professional salaries, petulant sports stars unable (or unwilling) to deal with being role models, and even parents of young athletes coming to blows, are sports really a "goodthing"? One youth sports coach says his game is great for kids and community, and coaching is good for anybody.
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Fellow GoodLetter readers,
College graduation can be tense time. All of a sudden, we former students are supposed to know exactly what we want to do with our professional lives at a time when most of our life experiences have been in the classroom. It causes too many college graduates to rush into the working world without having much to base our career decisions on. And with no prior working experience, we often find the positions that are available to us have more to do with getting coffee and compiling data than learning news skills and taking on responsibility, a scenario that, no doubt, holds little appeal for most imaginative and creative twentysomethings. When I was graduating from the University of Arizona a year ago, I felt all of this sort of tension. The solution I came up with -- a solution I would propose to other college graduates with the luxury of some flexibility -- was to volunteer for a year. I found my adventure in a coaching job, helping develop the sport of lacrosse in England.
Lacrosse is a graceful and fast-moving team sport that was created by Native Americans. The popularity of lacrosse is on the rise in the US, Australia, and other parts of the world. By taking a drive around my hometown of Fayetteville in central New York (a veritable hotbed for lacrosse), one might be stunned to see front yards with lacrosse goals instead of basketball hoops or soccer balls, and children around town twirling lacrosse sticks instead of sporting baseball gloves. Still, lacrosse as a whole is comprised of a small community of people compared to more mainstream sports. It really offers kids who learn the sport a greater opportunity to excel and benefit from the experience of competition. That's why when I was given the chance through the English Lacrosse Association to help increase awareness of lacrosse in that country and to bring teamwork and personal growth to others through lacrosse, I jumped at the prospect.
Living and working in another country and culture was tough for me to comprehend, but I was so excited. I had been placed with the Reading Wildcats Lacrosse Club -- a team about to begin its third year -- and was greeted warmly at London's Heathrow Airport by three of the Men's team members. The town of Reading is a 30-minute train ride from central London and is sometimes referred to as Britain's Silicon Valley. I was thrust immediately into a circle of friends, and soon learned that my experience was to be what I made of it. Yes, the club wanted to start both a women's team and a youth program, and yes, they were willing to help out, but the responsibility of coming up with a plan to make this all happen in seven months time was all mine.
I decided to focus my efforts on the youth program. I began contacting local schools in an attempt to schedule weekly lacrosse physical education lessons. I hoped that through the sessions, I would be able fuel interest in a team among the local kids. I knew that as a foreigner selling a foreign sport to schools with tight budgets, the odds were stacked against me. But with my thick American accent and a presentation in hand, I stormed into over 60 schools in hopes of signing them up for my "professional" lessons. I struggled to find the right person to talk to and to get them to let me explain the sport to them. The extent of most people's knowledge was that it was a sport limited to girls, since it had been played in female English boarding schools for over a century as a result of a touring Canadian/Native American team that had played in front of an impressed Queen.
Eventually, I was able to convince about 20 schools both to take a chance on lacrosse and that I wasn't such a bad guy, and I started teaching the sessions. As I expected, the kids absolutely loved the game. In a culture dominated by football (soccer), rugby, and cricket, the introduction of such a different sport really seemed to appeal to them. I truly enjoyed these sessions with the kids and could see that my coaching, the physical activity, and the joys of teamwork were having a positive impact on them. Plus, the kids thought I was the coolest guy in the world and actually asked me for autographs.
It turned out to be a great year for Reading lacrosse. Through these sessions, and with the addition of kids associated with members of the Men's team, I was able to found a Youth team. The kids picked up the sport quickly, worked hard, and we managed to finish 6th in a national tournament in our first year. Then, after putting on "taster sessions" at the local University, we were able to find enough interest from women who wanted to form a new team, and soon, the Lady Wildcats were formed. Sure enough, the Men's team ended up winning their division for the first time ever and generated a lot of interest from new players. This was all a thrill for Trevor Rogers, who had founded the club when his family relocated from Manchester and whose endless enthusiasm and love of the sport and how it can have a positive influence on people's lives is the real reason the lacrosse has grown in Reading in leaps and bounds.
I feel certain that helping expand lacrosse programs in Reading as a volunteer has given me more responsibility and challenged me more than any paid, entry-level job I could have landed right out of school. Additionally, I've able to live in a different part of the world, be involved and invested in a community, and pass along something I love. I may not be coming home with a big bank account, but if lacrosse helps build a Reading child's confidence or enables her or him to experience the camaraderie of team competition or to understand the life lessons of winning and losing, my time here will have been worth it and I'll cherish the fact that I chose one of the roads less traveled.
:: Jeff Cady
Reading, England
After teaching wilderness skills in Wyoming and Idaho this summer, Jeff will begin teaching history and coaching lacrosse at the Dunn School near Santa Barbara, California.
(Thoughts on Jeff's GoodLetter? Inspired by what you've read? E-mail us -- don't forget to tell us your name, where you're from, and if we can use your words in a future GoodLetter or on our Web site.)
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Readers Respond: Good Gratitude
Kindness. Generosity. A familiar voice in a time of need. The thoughtful word of a mentor. The honesty of a friend. The wisdom of a grandparent. The extra effort of a colleague or teacher. What are the things you are thankful for? For us here at GoodThings, we're thankful for an open and creative workplace, we're thankful to be able to do something we're passionate about, and, most importantly, we're thankful for you and everything you do: for subscribing to the GoodLetter, for reading the GoodLetter, for telling your friends, family, and colleagues about GoodThings, for buying and sharing GoodThings greeting cards. We appreciate you and never take your support and loyalty for granted.
We think gratitude is inspiring, so in two weeks, we'll launch "Good Gratitude," a brand-new series in the GoodLetter and a simple way to hear from even more of you, our cherished readers. Share your best thank-you letters -- to people you haven't thought of in years, to people who are long gone, to people you always wished you'd told how grateful you were, to someone who helped you yesterday. Write a note to the person you want to thank ("Dear Aunt Martha" -- "Dear Professor Gomez" - "Dear Second-Grade Teacher Smith" - "Dear Angela" - "Dear Mayor Jones" - "Dear Bus Driver Ed" - and so on) and send it to us. Every other week, we'll select one -- or a few -- to publish here in the GoodLetter. Help inspire your fellow GoodLetter readers! Use your most sincere words and say thank you to someone today.
Got some "Good Gratitude"? Send an e-mail to gratitude@goodthings.com -- and don't forget to tell us your name, where you're from.
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Gratitude is a good thing, but we love to hear from you about anything: ideas or situations that are inspiring you or challenging you to think, as well as organizations, programs, and people that contribute to your community and the world everyday. Please drop us a line.
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The Upshot
June 21 marks the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere (and the winter solstice for all of you GoodLetter readers down under!).
And with the changing of the seasons and the passing of time, reflections on both recent accomplishments and dreams deferred are natural parts of life. For this year's solstice, the Puget Consumers Co-Op (PCC) Farmland Fund is reflecting on its efforts to protect productive agricultural land from sprawling urban development in the Pacific Northwest and celebrating in high style. Having just saved its second farm and the rich wildlife habitat surrounding it, the Farmland Fund is part of growing grassroots movement throughout the world to ensure that the agricultural character and abundance of the places we live survives.
:: Learn more about the Farmland Fund.
:: Are you interested or involved in the agricultural land trust movement? Share your thoughts.
Celebrate the seasons!
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GoodThings on Public Radio
Have you been checking out our favorite public radio stories? Here are some of our favorite public radio pieces from this week (follow this link or the one below to the full summaries on our Web site):
:: Leaving Violence in the Past? -- A notorious Egyptian terrorist organization publicly renounces violence as a means to an end, and debate ensues.
:: Water, Water Everywhere -- The Pantanal is a South American wetland of massive proportions with sights and sounds like nowhere on Earth.
:: "Connecting Through Activity and Action" -- Boston's Freedom Music Project enables black and Jewish youth to make beautiful music together.
:: Music for the Imagination -- Wish you could find music that both you and your favorite kid could enjoy together? The rock band They Might Be Giants has just what you've been looking for.
:: Making A Fowl Situation Better -- Kansas City has a zoo overrun with Canada geese and a metropolitan area full of the homeless and hungry. Is there a way to link the two problems in a positive solution?
:: Women and Sports -- Thirty years ago, Title IX was supposed to level the playing field between men's and women's sports in the US. But has it?
:: Focusing Medicine on the Person -- If your doctor had been evaluated in medical school on the quality of his or her "bedside manner," would you be better off?
Visit our site to read full summaries of these stories and listen to your favorites.
Talk to us:
What's the best public radio story you've heard this week?
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