Fun-Da-Men-Tals

At practice yesterday... Coach Mike asked if I wanted to run any drills.  I was not prepared.  Not at all.  I've never played organized hoops... nor did I think I was going to be asked that question.  But as practice went on... it seemed like Coach Mike wasn't making that connection with the players.  He was more despondent than anything about the quality of these players.  

So I made a commitment... I will rise up to be not just an Assistant, but an Assistant COACH.  All night last night, I poured over Youtube for coaching advice and drills.  I read countless articles on how to run a practice.  I took notes.  Ran over them in my mind. Pictured my players getting better and better... and rehearsed speeches I would give to keep them going when the going gets tough. 

After all that studying... I truly realized... how lacking I was in the fundamentals.  All of my basketball skills... came from playing playground games and imitating Bird and Hardaway and Kobe.  I didn't know any of the terms.  Any of the reasons for doing what is taught.

I am.... tired. 

I can't give 200%!!

This morning... NN was still complaining, still fuming, still at a lost of what happened.

Then she started complaining about yesterday's "17" drill - where the players sprint 17x back and forth side line to side line.  After they were done...  Coach Mike said a lot of players didn't do it right... and had them do it again.

NN said that's not fair.  She already gave 100% on the first "17." And she can't give 200% cuz the other teammates are lazy.  

TEACHING MOMENT: You live as a team, you die as a team. #BOOM

And that opened the door for so many other lessons.  Leadership... carrying the team... encouraging others...  The exact reason why I so longed her to join organized team sport... ohhhhh.... Yes, this demotion sucks.  

How I long for the day when she can proclaim, "When I thought I was spent... my team needed me... and I found the inner strength and was able to give 200%!!!"

To the lowest of lows...

There's nothing worst in life... to go from the highest of highs... to the lowest of lows.  And as a parent... all you can do is say "That's life" and watch.

NN... today... for some unexplained reason... got moved from Team A to Team B.  How humiliating that was.  I learned...from the Musical experience... to not be overbearing.  But she learned... from the Musical experience... it's ok to show your emotions.

"Why did I get demoted?? I'm better than some of the 7th graders!?!?"

For some odd reason... I do think that me... as an Assistant Coach.... I factored into the decision making.  That it'll soften the blow that I can move with her from Team A to Team B.  But that doesn't make life easiser.

Life -- that's it.  Life is unfair.  Learn to deal with it now while you're young. So you can be resilient enough to deal with it when... you don't get into the school you want.  Or get the job you deserve... while watching your peers excel.  

As a parent.... it rips your heart out.  Logically... she didn't deserve to be in Team A.  She really, truly doesn't have the fundamentals other than her attitude and leadership skills. But rules are rules... and you have to abide by them.

But rules...suck.  Life... sucks.  Jesus... this bitter cup... sucks.  Take this away from me. Please.

Not a teaching moment....but a life lesson.  Is she too young to learn this!?  Sooner or later... I simply didn't expect it to be now. 

An A like no other A

It was no-cuts basketball tryouts today for JH Girls Basketball.  With the number of girls trying out... the coaches had to split it into 3 squads... Team A - the most advanced, competitive players.  Team B - developing players.  Team C - new players.

8th grade automatically gets into Team A. 6th grade automatically gets into Team C.  

So the question was... where do 7th grader girls fall into?

"I got into Team A, Daddy...."

My response, "Why didn't you get an A+?" 

Sloth

I saw a real life sloth today!!!  

She works at my local super market.  And I didn't even have to go to the zoo. 

Thundermans

A couple of weeks ago when most of the schools restarted but SW was still sitting at home waiting for school to commence... I picked a Netflix show for him to binge.  Thundermans is a Nickelodeon, TV-G show about a family with super powers hiding out in suburbia.  Huda thunk that our entire family are all enthralled with this goofy show that proved that regardless of network... there are some productions that transcend all ages and generations.  Nickelodeon, no less. 

Martha and Mary

A day after I blog about "The Sin of Over Admiring", I go on a walk by myself and think of a famous story of the Martha and Mary... where one sister wants to sit at the feet of the Lord to listen to him while another feels indignant while bustin' her butt.  And the moral of the story is we oughta choose to be with the Lord vs. do-do-do. Biblical contradictions? Heh... The scripture is so rich.

The Sin of Over-Admiring

"This is my beloved son... "

Twice this words rang in the gospel... when Jesus was baptized and at the Transfiguration, when Peter wanted to build three tents for Moses, Elijah and Jesus.  So much can be read from this... including the take where Peter was sooooo enjoying his heavenly experience, he didn't want it to end.  To a point where God the Father spoke up to remind him... "Wooooaaaahhhh cowboy... don't halt him from his mission to the cross!" 

Then we have the apostles staring up as Jesus ascended to the heavens in Acts 1 and a couple of angels said, "Why are you staring at the sky?" 

How dare I say that we spend too much time admiring God's glory..  that maybe we are actually using that as an excuse to not move on with our ministry and mission? 

Maybe it's a speaker? A pastor? Stream of Praise? SJCAC worship teams? Do we...as self proclaimed Christians... tip the balance to a point where we use the comfort of God's presence and neglect bringing God's presence to the unsaved? 

Blasphemous.  

萬事都互相效力

Love the fact that almost all the CS fellowships are now establishing daily prayer altars for the 40 Days of Prayer Journey.  I can't shake the feeling that this was because Eden proved that this can be done. 

Prayer is a blessing.  Prayer should be sweet. Prayer "where 2 or 3 are gathered in His name, I am in their midst." 

Pray Until Something Happens - P.U.S.H. 

What do we want to happen, though?  

That guilty feeling

Spent about an hour in SW's bed today... reading Peter King's weekly article on football.  I thoroughly enjoyed that "me-time" but was quite guilt-ridden.  I was on my phone and not spending time with family.  Then a thought occurred to me... Been having trouble reading books lately because of that exact reason... during the day... whenever there's downtime, I spend it with family.  Is it so wrong to curl up in bed and read??  

Looking back at 2021

My favorite post of the year... Looking back.  Every year... I've had the luxury and honor of looking back at 365 days of highs and lows to recount the 10 moments which shaped my year.  How I love to re-read my own blog posts to remember, re-traverse, reminisce, and by God's grace, relive those moments in time. 

2021

I famously kicked off the year by saying, "For the first time in human history, we can truly say that hindsight....is 2020." Unbeknownst to us... 2021 kicked our butts the same if not harder than 2020.  It was the year some of us welcomed a new president, but along the way, experienced one of the most shameful moments in US history when protesters stormed our very own US Capitol. 2021 saw Cancel Culture bloom and Wake Culture blossom, taking along with it... statues, monuments, street names, school names and household names including Dr. Seuss, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Diane Feinstein, and Mr. Potato Head. Ironically, it was the year where an impeachment was unsuccessful, nor was the California recall of Gavin Newsom. In the midst of all that... we found a glimpse of justice in the verdict of the death of George Floyd...finding little relief in a societal imbalance that can't possibly be nullified with one trial.  That courtroom, along side other courtrooms, came into the spotlight, most notably with the topic of Abortion where states like Texas passed the Heartbeat Act, and with a Conservative Supreme Court, might actually, finally, overturn Roe v Wade. (never in my lifetime...??). After an endless time of occupation... 2021 was the year American troops finally withdrew from Afghanistan... only to see the paper government collapse and offered us a modern day version of the Fall of Saigon. Speaking of fall... who can forget the ominous rise (and fall) of banal stocks like GameStop and AMC... as the people (via Reddit), dished it to the top 3%, causing a frenzy and halt in "free"-market trading. The world united as one during those few weeks of the Olympics as Japan limped to the finish line or the podium stand... while goliaths such as Simeon Biles announced to the world that "it's OK to not be OK." Humankind shot to new heights... as numerous NASA missions blasted to Mars, to the moon to an asteroid and even launched the first of several leisure space travels via Virgin, Space X and Blue Origins.  A historic season of 107 wins by your mediocre San Francisco Giants... in the midst of vaccine roll outs... only to be punched in the face by Delta (July) and then again Omicron (November). To that fateful date in June... when at work I found myself taking a piss... with another man.... taking a piss in the same bathroom.  Whoa.... 

Moving to my own personal top 10.  

10)  270 

9) 遙距居家令風雲 

8) Audit to Quality -  After 4 years of being in Audit... I was moved into my current role of Quality Assurance.  Another dicey career move, I must say.  Those first three months were brutal having to rebuild my production stamina.  Where will this path lead??? 

7) Tahoe Trip 

6) 68,000 Steps

5) Tweenage daughter - Not one event that stands out but they're all little strands of thread, interwoven into a tapestry of fatherly failures but Godly grace. 

4) Beat that Wall

3) Relocation 

2) It is finished 

1) Spirit of Hecker Award

And deary me... as I'm crossing my eyes and dotting my tees... I just realized I didn't do a "Looking back at the 2010's" post, like I did with "A look back at the 2000's".  Dare I try???