Brewster School District

Don’t just take your child to practices and events…. Play the sport with your child, engage them…. If you have never done the sport, learn with them or figure out how to be a part of it! I coached and played with my older children because their wasn’t other coaches for many of their teams, I had the most experience when they were young. My oldest daughter actually was my star baseball pitcher through Babe Ruth. We had a lot of fun.

I look back to when I was in high school. My dad would come out and play catch with me. I didn’t fully appreciate it until recently. My dad was an older parent. He was 45 when I was born. He was playing catch with me when he was 63, wearing bifocals after a long full day of putting logs into a veneer lathe….. And I was throwing in the 80s, topped out around 88…. I can’t even imagine that as I am in my early fifties and scared to death to catch my son that throws around there…. What he did was go out to play catch to engage me, talk with me, and stay up to date on the latest happenings….and be dad…. I miss him and really appreciate ALL he did, though it is too late to tell him in person…

I have seen parents go fetch their child’s discus to be engaged! Being a cheerleader is awesome but going out into the field and doing something or playing with them is even better…. Be a part! When we moved communities, one of the main reasons was I was commuting 70 miles one way to work and wasn’t able to get home in time to coach their teams any longer. And I remained engaged and coached their youth teams but I backed out as they got older. I told myself they had great coaches (which many of them played at least college if not professional sports) and they wouldn’t benefit from my experience. I didn’t go out and play catch, I was too busy…. They were practicing with other great student-athletes and top level coaching staff. What benefit would they get from my participation? That was not my best thinking…. I should have went out and played catch and engaged them…. Learned a new skill or sport…. I let others do that…. I managed a few teams and watched their practices, but didn’t actively work with them outside that, I expected them to do that themselves….

Learn from what I now view as a mistake in the rear view mirror…. Doesn’t matter how old or how good they are or how talented their coaches are, make time and partake with your child. I am not suggesting going out and making them shoot free throws for 5 hours after practice (unless that is what they want to do). I am suggesting go out and play catch, rebound, kick the ball around, whatever to be engaged…. Go fetch their throws for them and encourage them…. Be a part not a bystander….

End of PSA…..