coachKidsSports.com

Aim high and celebrate that! - Bill Rodgers

Fierce and friendly or just plain fierce?

Dinner at 8: Is that any way to hate your rival? (Rick Morrissey)

Whatever happened to the opponent being the enemy in sports?

You know—the evil, dimwitted, bad-breathed person who, you're convinced, abuses puppies in his spare time?

Yeah, the Bears couldn't get out of their own way Sunday because Brian Urlacher knew the Jason Taylor didn't have halitosis.

Pregame Hitler speech stirs fury

When Charlotte Catholic's boys' soccer team got to Forestview High School in Gastonia on Saturday night for an N.C. 3A playoff game, the Cougars heard something over the public address system they never would've expected:

A 90-second portion of a speech from Adolf Hitler.

This seems like an appropriate time to invoke Godwins Law , except Forestview won…

Fla. Coach Accused Of Forcing Player To Strip, Suck Thumb

According to a police report, some older kids duct taped the boy's legs and sat on top of him, WJXT-TV reported. Police said the coach, 23-year-old William David Simpkins, allowed the incident to take place and did nothing to stop it.

The police report states that Simpkins took the incident one step further, forcing the boy to take his clothes off and run laps in his underwear while sucking his thumb.

So the kids duct tape the kid and the coach sees this happening and his reaction is: you're not going far enough???  That's the way to motivate the kids coach…  They'll want to run through walls for you, except their feet and hands are already bound by duct tape.

Bad coaches, bad teammates, bad fans…  I was getting mad as I read each of these stories because I know that isn't what sports is about and that isn't how most coaches, players and fans think and act.  That's why it was such a joy to read a story in Tuesday's Chicago Tribune .

Alison Wimmer was prepared to meet resistance when she asked if her autistic daughter, Sarah, could run on the cross country team at Downers Grove South High School.

After all, girls like Sarah Wimmer typically join Special Olympics programs, not highly competitive high school sports.

Her mother, however, was pleasantly surprised. Not only did the coaches welcome her, but her teammates also agreed to give up some of their own opportunities so she could be part of the team.

It's a wonderful story about how sport was able to help an autistic girl find her way through high school and how her teammates learned some life lessons.  Kinda like what we always say sports should be about…

But this story isn't just a feel good story. No, Sarah can compete.

"It's not just that Sarah runs. She runs near 24 minutes for a 3-mile race. She beats people."

That isn't fast enough to win races, but it's faster than she ran when she started and it's faster than she would run if she wasn't given the chance to compete.  And after everything is removed, isn't that is what sports are about, the chance to compete.  Let me do my best, you do your best and let's see what happens. 

Sarah, her parents and coaches all knew should wouldn't win any races.  In fact the same could be said about any number of runners on that (or any other) cross country team.  But those kids aren't toeing the line looking for a scholarship.  But yet they run.  They run until their lungs burn and their legs ache because they want something else; and whatever else it is - the friendships, the personal challenge - they get it through sports.  That's how sports are trancendant, that's why they are a gift.