One of the websites i check regularly is espn.com. No surprise…i’m a big sports fan…always have been and always will be. I have an uncanny ability to remember useless facts about sports and my mom still says that i learned to read from looking at baseball cards. I’m on a tangent, sort of…i was talking about looking at espn.com. A big part of my love of sports is that it is such a reflection of life…maybe saying it is a reflection of life is not completely accurate. It might be better to say that it teaches you alot about life.
I wanted to share this article with everybody about a college basketball player from Duke that most sports fans, especially our 17′s coach Jason Leppo who lives and breathes Duke basketball, will recognize. Here is the link: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=nolan First, my heart aches. I have a hard time thinking what my life would have been like to grow up not having my dad…but i love what happened next. A group of men saw a need and they did everything that they could to help raise this boy.
Nolan will never have his father back and i gather from the article that he would give anything to have him here. Nobody can relate to how Nolan feels when he goes back to his room after a game, only wishing that his dad was there. What a great testament to Derek Smith though that his peers took it upon themselves to step in and try to fill a void that can never be filled. Thankfully, i never had to deal with a loss like that but my heart goes out to those who have.
My goal is to build something that teaches kids about life through sports…more than just doing the right thing. But doing great things, things that have an impact on others, on the community around them, and on the world. I have been telling my kids lately, specifically Annabelle before she gets on the bus, “change the world today.” Let’s keep working on that one together!
Glad to hear Jason is a die hard Duke fan. My other daughter Megan is one too! She keeps trying to convert her little sister (Alexis) also! It may not be a parent but they both know what it’s like to not have grandparents around to see them play. They always seem to be the best cheerleaders.
They (grandparents) are always the best cheerleaders. I am fortunate to have my paternal grandfather still alive at 91. My other 3 grandparents lived into their late 80′s and early 90′s and have all passed away in the past 5 years. While they were not the cheerleader type, they passed on some pretty serious lessons to my generation…I’ll do my best to pay it forward.