My father passed away last month. He had been battling COPD for years and was a two-time cancer survivor. Ultimately, pneumonia was too much for his body. I’ve written before that my Hustle & Attitude philosophy has sometimes put him and I at odds. Specifically, he disagreed with the ‘every kid plays an equal amount’ portion of my philosophy. Dad believed the best players deserved to play. That was my Dad, though…he felt that if you wanted something, you had to work for it. That’s how he lived. He retired from the Air Force as a Master Sergeant. On a military enlisted salary, he made sure that our family didn’t want for anything.
It is important to note that my Dad paved the way for me to become a youth sports coach. As I followed him into the Air Force, I followed his example in coaching my kids in their sports. When I was a kid, my Dad even coached a sport he didn’t really know much about. He was an assistant soccer coach (see picture of our team below) even though he never played the sport and I don’t think he liked it that much. Dad was very proud of his strategic contribution to our team’s success. He suggested to the head coach that our backfielders/defensemen move up to midfield when our team had the ball on the other team’s side of the field. Our team immediately scored more goals as the backfielders were able to keep the ball on the opposition’s side of the field. I believe this is a common strategy today and in no way did my Dad invent it. But boy was he proud of his idea.
Dad showed me that volunteering to coach kids’ sports was important. He showed me that you weren’t out there just to coach your kid, but the whole team. Dad was kind to the players, but firm. He never showed any favoritism to me, either. I remember one baseball game where one of my teammates struck out and threw his helmet and bat in the dugout. My Dad calmly told him it would be OK and he’d get ’em next time. A couple innings later, I struck out on a bad call and stormed into the dugout. I slammed my bat into the bat rack. My Dad yelled at me, “Knock it off. That’s not how we behave”. I complained to my Mom later that he had treated me differently than the other player. She replied, “Of course he did. He expects more from you”. Those are some of the most motivating words I’ve ever heard.
It’s been fun reminiscing about good times with my Dad this past month. Sad when I realize we won’t be making new ones, but mostly smiling and laughing at stories. It has also opened my eyes to all the things he showed me how to do.
Hustle & Attitude 