Non-hoop, personal; Michael's football

It's been a while since I had a chance to drop in here. A little advice for those who cherish their free time; don't ever get talked into being head coach for youth football. At least with school starting practice drops to 2 nights and Saturday with a Sunday game. It's been 4 nights a week since July 31. And these are 8 and 9 year olds.

Here's a couple of shots of Michael, # 59, blocking in our first game Sunday. He's an end on offense (we run a wishbone) and outside linebacker on defense. Unfortunately we dropped our first game 13-0. One of their TD's off our opening play fumble and the other when the horn to end the 1st half sounded while they were running a play and our defense all stopped. Coach has got a little work to do...

NYCelt

I assume there are weight/age limits. So how big is Mike these days?

Are you having any issues with parents? Seems our local varsity team had an away game last Friday and several of our parents were asked to leave the field.

I assume you have some help and what are your numbers like?

Marcus never cared about playing since about age 7, after he saw one of his little buddies take a pretty good hit at a practice and not get up for a few minutes?

Marcus and I will be heading to the meadowlands to watch Syracuse take on USC Saturday...... hoping for another SU Nebraska upset but not gonna hold my breath either.

Today is the first day of his senior year! Gosh how the time flies by.

Said to me the other day if he is not able to pitch (or throw) next baseball season he's gonna play on the golf team. Doing rehab daily and has pretty strict limits and one is NO THROWING. But it sure doesn't affect his golf game. Hard to describe the problem but it is all in the small muscles around the shoulder and he needs to regain a complete range of motion and strengthen these muscles. If you look at him square in the back the left (pitching) scapula was about 3 inches lower than the right. After just a week of therapy it's only an inch out of allignment so we are making progress.

Used to beat him almost all the time, now ........ rarely. Of course when he is nearly driving the greens on short par 4's (350yds or so) and I am using 5 irons way back in the fairway, (or rough) it makes it a little tough to compete.

beat

NY,

Wow hi is growing up! Good luck with the season.

Pete

Great to hear about the growth of the next generation. Also about the diversity of sports they enjoy. It's obvious how their dads support them, so congrats to the geezers too.

Sam

beat,

He's about 4'5" or so and around 63 lbs. At 8, none of it is fat which makes me envious. Just started 3rd grade. Besides football he's doing Little League, Babe Ruth Travel baseball, a local hoops rec league and is joining a CYO hoops league. Hoops is the only thing I'm not coaching (and won't). He's asking if he can try soccer and wrestling too. My wife says I need to act like a parent and get it under control, but she's been Team Mom on several of our teams, makes every game and every football practice. Somehow with all of that he's managed to be in the accelerated group in school, although the districts are cutting back on that around here.

His division can be ages 7 and 8 up to 100 lbs and 9 year olds up to 70 lbs.

We've got 24 kids and I have 5 assistant coaches and 1 teen coach from the High School team. As for issues with parents it's completely out of control. Everyone thinks their 8-year old is a future All-American. Starting to see the same issues with baseball too. Sooner or later people just need to let the kids play.

SU still has it's issues...

Sounds like Marcus is responding to therapy. He ought to continue spending time on the links regardless of how baseball goes. To me golf and basketball are the two games you can stay active at to at least our age. Well, as long as we have good orthopedic surgeons and chiropractors!

Regards