Friday, September 27, 2013

A Full Tank


What will fill our kids up? What will bring enduring joy? Dan Gable and his family built their lives around wrestling—in both his biological and his marital family. Their dedication paid off extraordinarily. Gable’s legendary accomplishments included: 64-0 in high school, 118-1 in college, an Olympic gold medal (without surrendering a point), 15 national titles in 21 seasons as the University of Iowa coach.

Initially, Dan’s wrestling was a refuge for his family after the rape and murder of his older sister. When it looked to him like his family might crumble after her tragic death, he rallied his parents around him and his high school wrestling.
 
Wrestling continued to be his sanctuary at University of Iowa, as an athlete and later as coach. The Iowa wrestling room (which he designed) was His spiritual home. It was like a confessional, a place where pain could be traded for absolution.

But wrestling couldn’t absolve his pain. Even with all of his success, Gable lives with wounds from his sister’s murder, wounds from his one loss, wounds from a recent IOC ruling to cut wrestling from the Olympics, wounds from the losses of his wrestlers. Andy Hamilton of the Des Moines Register claimed that “Gable quit coaching, in large part, because he could no longer stomach seeing wrestlers he cared about lose.“
 
Wouldn’t it be great if your child was the MVP of his league? or your state’s high school athlete of the year? or an NCAA champion? or the best golfer in the whole world? Sure, those would be fantastic accomplishments. But they have little to do with living a joyful, filled-to-the-brim life. Gable retired from his prolific career “to save his life.” Wrestling could not be his savior.

Each of us has a God-shaped hole that only God can fill. Trying to fill that vacuum with anything else is like trying to fill the Grand Canyon one marble at a time. We need to teach our child athletes that pursuing God is the only pursuit that will fill their tanks: Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.

 
(**The quotes above come mostly from the excellent ESPN article (http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/Dan-Gable/the-losses-dan-gable) by Wright Thompson.)

 

Thursday, September 12, 2013

The Success of Failure


When one of our sons was a junior in high school he was playing behind a boy on his basketball team who wasn’t nearly as talented as our son. (This wasn’t just a parental prejudice! It was also the opinion of a local college coach). After one game in which he played little, he grumbled: “I work hard, practice extra, play well when I’m in the game, but get little playing time. Other guys never practice, play just O.K. and get lots of playing time. I’m not sure I want to play next year.” Our discouraged son needed help.
 
Initially, we reminded him that his extra practice had paid off—he was leading the team in field goal percentage. We also pointed out that his team had been playing weak teams and that he would have an opportunity to shine when they faced stiffer competition. Finally, we encouraged him to think about God’s purpose in all of this. Was God teaching him how to be content “in all circumstances”? to love his teammates? to trust God for his playing time?

The following week, the boy our son was playing behind was injured and wouldn’t play in the next game—a game against a difficult opponent. We asked several people to pray for our son. We prayed together as a family. The result? He played little and poorly. Did God answer our prayers? Definitely! As a result of his discouraging performance and season, he went to his closet and dug out information he had received at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes camp about how to deal with adversity. Our son—and his parents!—were learning again and again to put our hope in God, not in his circumstances: Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him. (Ps.42:5)  

We parents need to raise our eyes to see God’s purpose in our child’s athletic struggles. If you and your child’s goal is merely playing time or plaques, you may be missing a divinely designed  lesson. God is far more concerned about your child’s developing character than his athletic performance.

 

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Children’s Safety: Football Concussions


The NFL announced a settlement of $765 million between the league and 4,500 former players who sued over concussion-related injuries. The settlement comes as more and more research indicates that concussions are a serious health issue. One study found that Alzheimer’s disease appeared far more often among retired NFL players—19 times the rate for the average male in his 30’s and 40’s! As a result of such information, the NFL instituted stricter rules on tackling and post-concussion play. Players who show signs of a concussion must be removed from (at least) the rest of the game.

High schools have also taken a tougher stand. Referees nationwide must remove players who show any sign of a concussion, not just when an athlete loses consciousness. If trainers even suspect a concussion, the player may not return to the game.

Should parents encourage their kids to play football? Though injury is a risk in any sport, football leads the pack by a wide margin among the primary sports. A boy who played high school football in 2006 in South Dakota was seven times more likely to receive a season-ending injury than a boy playing basketball! It might be wise to encourage boys, as we did with ours, to play safer sports.

If your son chooses to play high school football, make sure there is a doctor or a trainer present to evaluate athletes.  Some schools claim they can’t afford a trainer. But one expert believes “that means you can't afford to have a program. The presence of a certified athletic trainer makes your program safer by every measure, and if you can't afford to make the program safe, then you should be closing it up.”