"Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars."
- Henry Van Dyke
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"Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars." - Henry Van Dyke
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Get Involved
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February 4, 2012 | |||||||
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 The Love of the Game by Jeff Cady Posted June 20, 2002 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. NEW Reader Responses are a goodthing! Join the conversation! 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.) |
TALK ABOUT IT In spite of all the negative publicity surrounding sports and sports stars, there are many positive and constructive ways sports are benefiting the lives of children, coaches, and families everyday. Do you have stories and examples? Share your stories and ideas. LEARN ABOUT IT :: Reading Wildcats Lacrosse Club :: English Lacrosse Association :: Positive Coaching Alliance :: A behavior checklist of youth sports coaches :: Youth-Sports.com :: MomsTeam.com :: Connecting with coaches :: MochaSofa :: An article on coaching and youth sports :: Mia Hamm, a true sports role model :: Laureus Sport for Good Foundation More about the sport of lacrosse: :: Lacrosse.org :: Lacrosse World Championship in Perth, Western Australia DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT :: Contact your local recreation department today and volunteer to coach kids in a sport you love. Readers Respond Want to share your thoughts or ideas with other people who care about good things? Send 'em our way.
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