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Learn a New Sport with Your Kids: Guest Post by Kelly Cozart
By Cindy | May 18, 2008
| Kelly Cozart, my dear friend and fellow roommate from the Academy, is sharing her experiences as a Mom introduced to a new sport because of her little girl, Caroline! I am excited that she is sharing her story with Go Workout Mom’s readers! She had no idea how signing her little girl up for Soccer would change her involvement in the game. Thank you for a great example of finding our inner athlete, Kelly. |
As a Mom with a demanding, time-consuming career and commute, I often struggle with not getting to
spend enough time with my daughter, Caroline. This struggle led to my goal of spending quality time with her and incorporating activities that we both enjoy. Little did I know that our latest activity would be immeasurably rewarding…
The Mighty Kickers Soccer League announcement was posted at the YMCA. My initial thought was
Cool, I can’t wait to sign-up Caroline. Can you imagine what 3 and 4 year olds playing soccer will be like? I wonder if they will find enough parents crazy enough for that kind of challenge.
A few days later I turned in the application, with a little check in the box volunteering to coach.
Oh yeah, I know NOTHING about soccer. Growing up, team sports were a way of life. One sports season began as another was ending, and my group of friends through school was made on practice fields during elementary school. But, as in a lot of small towns, soccer was something you heard about, not played.
Only after the first practice did I realize that signing up for coaching is by far the best thing I could have done.
Learning a New Sport
I haven’t learned a new sport, except for that brief foray into women’s rugby, since childhood. Luckily, it is fairly simple to learn the basics of most sports to teach at this level. The Y’s Sports Director pointed us to learning modules created by the YMCA of Greater Houston. The modules are broken down into lessons that are easy to understand and organize. In addition to the fundamentals of soccer, the lessons incorporate teaching the benefits of teamwork, physical fitness and explaining both in a way children understand.
Learning a New Form of Exercise
Coaching takes A LOT of stamina. Running down loose balls (or children who don’t always pay attention to the whistle), demonstrating new techniques, and refereeing the games all require constant motion and short bursts of energy. Although I have spent countless hours on the treadmill and elliptical, I wasn’t prepared for all of the different muscles that hurt during that first week. Practices have taken the place of late night workouts after putting Caroline to bed, and I am starting to feel my endurance increasing in ways that I didn’t when sticking to my old exercise routines.
Lessons Learned
Watching a child understand the fundamentals of a sport is just as exciting as the first step, smile, or word. Even our youngest player is coming along and beginning to grasp when and how to go after the ball. As a coach, I am not only able to see the growth in the children, but I have been able to see a change in myself. The confidence that I lacked in the beginning to go all out when demonstrating a new skill or disciplining someone distracted by the closest bug (train, dog, playground, sibling, anything really…) has begun increasing with each practice or game.
The biggest lesson I have learned is to just GET OUT THERE. It can be your children, niece, grandchild, next door neighbor, etc… I never imagined my goal of spending quality time with Caroline would lead me to coaching a team of pre-school aged children in a sport I never watched or played. For me, this form of exercise beats clocking miles on the treadmill any day of the week!
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Topics: Fitness Knowledge, Mom Stuff, Motivation |
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Kelly, congrats on finding YOUR inner athlete! Isn’t it great to meet her? I bet your daughter LOVES having such a great time each practice with you. Those memories will be priceless!
Brianna