Role Models

Yesterday, after the Cards lost the Series to Houston, it seemed like the baseball season was pretty much over, at least here in St. Louis. It was a great year, with some inspiring players. Guys like David Eckstein are the kind of people you want young players to emulate.

Last nite, a meeting on the Illinois side made me late for dinner. After a late start, we barbequed and had a relaxing dinner til around 9:00. Earlier in the day, a package arrived from Matt's hockey coach. Last weekend, we held Matt out of all of his sports activities, since he wasn't working hard enough in school and around the house. Hope we don't have to do that again. Not sure that sort of discipline really works.

Even though it was dark, and we were in the middle of making dinner, Matt wanted to show me a pitch he had been working on. That would have to wait, but it's hard turning down a game of catch. After dinner, the rain had stopped, so at about 9:15 we went down to the park. We found a good new spot under some lights for a catch. We tossed it around for about 15 minutes, and Matt was making some good pitches.

After watching Oswalt mow down the Cardinals, I think Matt has a better idea of what it means when someone talks about "leg drive". Driving through and finishing his pitches, he was throwing the ball noticeably harder. Pretty soon, I won't be feeling completely safe catching for him.

When we returned home, we went through the package his hockey coach had sent. It was full of team information, ice times, and other good stuff. There was also a hand written note to Matt. For anyone involved with kids sports, this note was one of the best things I've seen come down from a coach to a player.

Matt,

Sorry we missed you this last weekend. I'm sure some of the guys told you about last Friday night's loss.

Keep your grades up. They're a lot more important than hockey! Besides, we're going to need you this year.

Work hard at school and at the rink. No more benchings from home, ok?

See you Saturday.

Coach

Lots of people put in a lot of hours coaching kids sports, but too many get the priorities way out of whack. They act like the whole thing is more for the adults than the kids.

We'll save the note from Matt's hockey coach. We might pin it to the wall in his room. I might pin it to mine.