WE BEGIN!!!

We only had one day of practice this week.  Woohoo, and wouldn't you know, I got sick for the first time in 6 months I got sick.  And not just anything, but full on head cold/flu like symptoms.

I am sure it makes me a bad coach in some regards that I doped up on dayquil and caffeine and went to practice anyways.

I wasn't going to miss it though, no way no how.  I never miss a practice.  I have not missed one yet no matter how sick or hurt or tired or busy I am I have never missed a practice.

I couldn't help that my patience was a bit shorter than normal though.  Sorry girls who may one day in the future read this.  I tried my best to be super fun and happy, but coach Jillianne was struggling with a migraine like headache and a nose full of snot.

Anyhow, it was intro day.  Its how we always start the season.  And I am being faced with a new challenge this season.  The returning girls.

I love them to death, I really do and I want them to return because I think they have so much to offer and they learn a little bit more each season too.  However, they are 'know it alls'.  So I have to figure out how to deal with that now.  Last spring this was a problem but I finally was able to get the girls to kind of cooperate.  This season it is even harder.  I have girls that have been a part of this program now in their 5th season!  So that is probably what I will be address the most through this season's blogs.  How I learn to conquer this problem.  Also, the shy girl syndrome.  I have at least 2 if not 3 girls who are super shy and definitely going to struggle to speak up.  I hate putting them on the spot because I remember how I felt when I was young and had to be put in front of my peers.  It was my worst nightmare.  I was always afraid of being laughed at and these girls, it is the same for them.  But I can't let them go through the season completely silent.  I eventually break through all of them but you might hear my stories geared more towards that.

And of course-there are the surly fifth graders who have all the knowledge and Pre-puberty hormones to make them just difficult enough to work with but they are in place for being able to be great leaders of the group  I have at least one pegged that is going to be a great asset, now if I can just get the other group to each see their roll and take on being leaders as opposed to independent entities, we will have a wonderful team dynamic as we do every season.

I did however, do something new.  I decided that addressing the whole team when one girl is acting out isn't going to work anymore.  However, I don't like singling a girl out during practice and taking away time from the others.  So at the end of practice I pull the girls that need a little direction to the side and have a positive building session with them.  For instance, instead of saying-please don't scream constantly when you are excited, it makes me want to pull my hair out, i instead address the excitable individual with the following:

I love how much energy and excitement you have.  It really is great to have someone so happy to be here and someone who is willing to work so hard at being the best she can be.  What I want you to do is focus as much of that energy on being the best runner that you can and being a great team mate to your friends.  Its OK to get excited but lets see if we can find another way to show our excitement so that we make more friends rather than pushing people away.  Maybe we can do a hand clapping or a little dance.

-yes...dancing can be distracting but it is so much better than a shrill scream.

Kids ultimately want to make you proud, right?  So lets see if I can work from that angle and have them work for my respect and admiration instead of out of fear of being punished.  They get punished enough in life, I want to be a positive role model that they want to earn my respect from.

So here goes folks...one week down, a little over 9 more to go!  And many adventures in between.