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This guy has the right idea….

That kind of composure doesn’t just happen. You learn it, you work on it every day. So after he’s done with his homework, Kirby and I will work on pressure situations and ignoring distractions. I’ll set up in my lawn chair and get the hose and airhorn out, and he’ll go to work. I’ll randomly shout, sound the airhorn and spray him to simulate distractions. We’ll turn on the steady stream so he knows what it’s like to kick in adverse weather, maybe get some sprinklers going. If he can’t make a kick with a hose in his face in front of some neighborhood kids or the girl he’s got a crush on, how will he ever make a Super-Bowl-winning kick?

Yes Virginia, it is tongue in cheek — I hope…  I guess we’ll find out in the next 20+ years…

The score is 2-1 late in the game.  Your team is down, but pressing hard.  The kids are making great passes — short and quick, just as you taught them — and advancing through the defenders easier than they walked through the cones at the first practice.  You know it’s only a matter of time before you tie the score, and you know in your bones that the go ahead goal will come even easier.

Then it happens, Jenny strips the ball from the other team’s best player.  She pivots and looks down the wing for Ashley.  Ashley sees the play develop and starts sprinting down the sideline, careful to stay onsides.  Five steps into her burst, she stops short.  She can’t breathe, she’s having an asthma attack.

According to an article in a recent edition of the Chicago Sun-Times, most coaches are unprepared to handle an athlete experiencing an asthma attack.  The article quotes a study from the Chicago Asthma Consortium that only 1 in 3 coaches has the training to handle an attack.  The article doesn’t state what constitutes the training, but it does offer some common sense tips to keep your kids healthy and safe…

• Preventing attacks. Remind asthmatic athletes to use rescue inhalers before starting aerobic activities, if so directed by their doctors. Ask a parent or athlete for a copy of the athlete’s asthma action plan.
• Recognizing an attack. Symptoms vary, and can include coughing, chest pain or tightness, shortness of breath, wheezing, pale skin and speaking in short bursts.
• During an attack, never leave an athlete alone; have someone else get the parent. The athlete generally should take two puffs of the rescue inhaler and hold breath for 10 seconds after each puff. Wait one to two minutes between puffs. The athlete should sit up and breathe slowly through the nose, and out through pursed lips.

In Chicago, the lung association offers a free one-hour asthma classes for coaches and teachers at their offices at 1440 W. Washington. You can call (312) 628-0206 for scheduling. For online training go to www.WinningWithAsthma.org for a 30-minute training session.

This is a serious issue affecting nearly every team.  The number of children with asthma is staggering.  Few are at serious risk, but it’s impossible to know when a major attack can occur.  But understanding the warning signs can prevent a tragedy.

I’ve been very lax about posting lately — sorry about that.  Over the past three months much of the time I used to spend on this site has been devoted to getting a new business off the ground.  It’s through kids, sports and coaching that I came to this new venture, and while it’s taking me away from coaching, it’s still keeping me in touch with the kids and the sports — the reasons I spent those cold, wet spring days on the sidelines.

What’s been keeping me away from you for so long you ask?  You can find out at  www.MyMVPpix.com.  It’s an action and event photography business.  We specialize in getting the pictures of your MVP that you can’t — usually because you are too busy coaching, cheering or taking care of a little one.  I believe in giving back to the organizations that give our kids the chance to compete, so I give 10% back to the organization - I figure it’s better that family and friends buy pictures than wrapping paper.

It’s been an interesting couple of months.  I’m learning about so much more that photography.  From the marketing to the operational, it’s all on us.  There isn’t another department we can blame it on and gossip about.  Either I do it, my wife does it, or it doesn’t get done.  In many ways that is very liberating — it also makes for some late nights when I have to get an event posted or an order completed…  but having a pricing meeting over pizza and margaritas keeps things interesting.

I wouldn’t be a very good business owner if I didn’t ask for your business…  contact me at jb2-at-myMVPpix.com to bring us out for your team.  We love to travel and I’d like nothing more than to get to know this site’s readers.

I’ll continue to post here — now that the new site is running it shouldn’t take quite as much of my time.  In fact, I have another post ready for tomorrow…