I just read a note from Dana Blair.  I’ve been getting pretty stressed lately about sports… well, not just sports, but lacrosse in particular.  I always try to do the right thing for the kids, create the best environment for the kids to play in, and make sure that they have a positive and supportive environment where they can make mistakes, and learn, and grow, and develop into self-confident young adults with drive and conviction.  In my quest to provide this environment, there are always obstacles, politics in sports, adults pushing kids in certain directions, or parents acting very selfishly for their own kid’s interests without regard for the best interests of every other child in their community.  And I’ve put myself in a leadership position in a club organization where parents trust my father and me.  I like the position we are in, because it allows us some freedom to do the right thing.  And we care.

Lately, there have been many pressures.  And there have been many politics.  The landscape of youth lacrosse is changing, and our club is in the forefront of the change.  And we have been trying to advise parents within our club to make very responsible decisions for their children’s best interests.  There are many folks in leadership positions within different lacrosse organizations that are not taking into account how much pressure is being put on the children in their communities.  They are more concerned with winning, with being competitive, with keeping their registration numbers up, with putting their foot down, with creating policies, etc, to stop and think about what is best for the 10 year old girl that they are going to put their foot down on.

Issues like this weigh very heavily on me.  And I have been losing sleep lately worrying about doing the right thing when the path is not always clear, or when I think the path is clear but it might take other parents longer to gain the perspective that I have to understand the effect of the path that is clear to me already.

Well, on one of the issues that has been weighing on me lately, I had a breakthrough.  It came from one of the parents on my team.  And when I shared the breakthrough along to some of the other parents on the team, I got a note back from Dana Blair, which included the following:

Please don’t be stressed–thanks for everything you do!  You are a great dad and coach to all of our girls 🙂

After I read this note, I felt a sense of calm within me.  And I looked at my clock, and it read 3:33.  For some who are close to me, you know the significance of the time.  I seem to have all of my divine interventions at 3:33.  For years, I believe that my grandfather has come to me at that time, and has saved me, time and again.  And not just to me, but I believe that he comes to Marcia, and to Bobby, and to my father at the same time.

I love you Grandpop