How much is too much?/A lot of fun

As many of you know, I coach girl's basketball. Well, I sort of coach girl's basketball. Today, I'm going to go out on a limb and put in print some feelings I've been having because one, I don't think anyone who would take offense will see this, and two, I'm not sure if I care if they take offense because it would be because, "the truth hurts." You see, our varsity team is 1-5 right now to start the season. Their losses have been by an average of about 25 points. It hasn't been pretty. In fact, it's been quite embarrassing. There are too many problems to count but, in the end, it comes down to one thing, practice. It's not that we don't practice but that we don't practice well. Very little of that is the fault of the players. They share in the blame but the majority of it comes from the coaches. Our practices start off with the same thing every day; lay-ups and jump-shots. It's a drab routine that is not improving anything. We then move to another drill that, once again, is not improving anything because the head coach seems to just be on cruise control for the first 30-45 minutes of practice. It's been so routine like this that when we finally changed it up to a different drill this past Monday after the lay-ups and jump-shots, you would think the girls' heads were going to explode. It was like they didn't know how to do anything else without following that same routine. Another problem with our practice is that we do not spend any time working on the small things; ball-handling, passing, rebounding or man-to-man defense. Thus, we do these things very poorly in games. Also, when we work on team-stuff, only aabout half of what we work on actually is used during the game. For example, on Monday we spent a good bit of time working on our full-court press but never used it in the game last night. The head coach is upset because the team isn't intense and doesn't do the things necessary to win but the problem is that we haven't been preparing them in a way that breeds that attitude. I spend a lot of time biting my tongue because, in the end, it's not my program but how long to I sit and watch a team get run into the ground over and over again before I step and say something? We'll see if I can make it through the season without biting my tongue off.

On a more positive note, our JV team lost by three points in double overtime last night. It was the funnest game that I've been a part of this season. The girls never gave up. They kept fighting till the end but just couldn't pull it out. I was very proud of them and their effort and could do nothing but laugh and say how fun the game was. That's what it's about. You work hard to prepare so that you can, at least, put yourself in a position to win. Doing that and playing up to your potential is the fun that comes in the end and, as a coach, it's a lot of fun for me to watch that. Of course, it was a lot funner last year when I was coaching a freshman team that went 25-3 last year and did anything I asked them to do. I look forward to having another opportunity to coach a team the way I want to coach them.

Not a good doctor visit.

So, I went to the doctor this morning. It was not a pleasant visit, whatsoever. The majority of the displeasure came from the fact that my appointment was at 8:10AM and the doctor came into the examination room to see me at 9:50AM. I was not happy. I try really hard to be patient (I waited 45 minutes in the exam room before I said anything). Finally, at 9:40, I went to the nurse and said that, if I'm not seen by 10:00, I have to go. I had class starting at 10:30 and had only taken off for the first half of the day. Anyway, it only took the doctor 10 minutes to do what he needed to do.

I have a partially torn lateral meniscus of the left knee. I was given a shot of cortisone, a prescription of anti-inflammatories and told to "baby" it for the next month. I laughed because that goes against my every being. Especially in practice it's going to be tough. I'm a hands-on kind of coach. I don't just say, "Do this!" and expect the players to do it. I get out there and show them. I promised Irene I would try my hardest.

The overall opinion of the doctor is, let's try to calm down the inflammation and maybe it will heal itself. If it doesn't, then it's a bad enough tear that they will have to do arthroscopic surgery. He assured me that, if it came to surgery, they would be able to do it on a Friday and I would be back at work on Monday. Hopefully, it won't come to that.

Anyone have any experience with this kind of injury?

MRI

So, I'm scheduled to have an MRI tomorrow on my left knee. It's kind of unusual that I'm not too worried about this. I have a pretty good idea what it's going to show(slight tear in the meniscus). I also know that I don't have a lot of pain right now and have been able to run full speed at times as long as I don't turn on a planted foot real hard (that's probably what caused it). At the same time, this is a little difficult for me because we are in basketball season and I like to work out with the team in order to push them to be better. If I can do it, they can do it. I can stay with the slow people and get them to go faster and I can run with the fastest and make them go faster, too. I'm pretty sure the injury happened while running lines. I also find it interesting that this was my least favorite thing to do when I played b-ball but right now I get a lot of enjoyment out of it; maybe because it feels good to know I can still do a 17-across in a minute. Hopefully, I'm accurate with the prediction of my injury and treatment will be easy and recovery fast!

Dodgeball to Basketball

So, my team didn't win the Dodgeball tournament. It was an interesting experience, though. It's interesting to see how competitive people can get about a silly game. I did, on the other hand make it onto the faculty all-star team wich competed against the student all-star team. It wasn't even close. We put 'em down quick!

Now, with dodgeball over, I can concentrate on the upcoming basketball season. For those who don't know, I coach high school girls basketball. I am not the head coach and not the JV coach either. I was hired to be the head coach and things haven't gone quite as expected, to put it in a nice way. Anyway, I'm still on the court coaching, yelling, running, pushing, encouraging and generally doing everything I can to get every ounce of potential out of each player. At the end of practice, I'm usually as exhausted as the players. I didn't know it until Irene made a comment to someone else that I am a lot more upbeat right now and happier, in general. The fact is, I am! It's not that my life sucks the rest of the time but I think it's simply the fact that I get to do what I love to do on a regular basis right now. Irene tries to keep my head in check but it's hard, when you end a practice and see the drastic improvement, not to feel pretty good about the way you do things.

Well, gotta change for practice!

Dodgeball!!

So, it's become a tradition at this here high school for the faculty to have a dodgeball tournament. I have opted to participate in said tournament this year. It is today after school. I'm not sure what to expect from this but a lot of these teachers take a lot of pride in their dodgeball skills and make sure that everyone else knows what the eventual outcome of the tournament will be. I, on the other hand, being from Texas need not brag. Humility is just a natural trait for us Texans and the need to express our superiority in, well, just about anything is a given.

I look forward to the tournament today. I hope that I can bring my teammates up to a championship level.

I'll try to remember to post results tomorrow.

On another note, basketball practice starts tomorrow (Finally!!!). I do love basketball season and being on the court every day!

Moved to tears

I was reminded last night of something I heard said by Jim Valvano. For those of you who don't know who that was, he was, in simplest terms, a coach. He is most commonly known as Jimmy V and he died of cancer. At the ESPN, Espy Awards a few years back, they gave Jim Valvano an award and he gave a speech that rings through those who heard it being punctuated with the words, "Don't give up! Don't ever give up!" Those aren't the words I was reminded of. The ones that came to me last night were part of a list of things someone should do on a daily basis. One of those things was, "...be moved to tears..."
Last night, I was moved to tears. I was watching a show on ESPN called E60. It's like the sport's version of 60 Minutes. Anyway, there was a segment about the mascot from The University of North Carolina that died in a car accident. This young man made the choice, a very verbal emphatic choice, to be an organ donor. His organs were donated to at least four different people. All of these people were brought back from the brink of death. The parents of this young man received an opportunity to meet these recipients and vice versa.
I was doing well up until the point where it showed the meeting. At that point, for some reason, I couldn't hold back the tears. This young man's choice gave one man the ability to go back to work on his farm, another man went from being bed-ridden to being able to spend time with his teenage children, yet another will now be able to watch his young children grow up and last, a teenage boy will be able to try out for the high school basketball team. Just to see the mixture of emotions, not just the elation for a new lease on life, not just the thankfulness for the gift they had received but also to watch the guilt that some underwent because they lived while this young man had to die.
What else can I say? I was moved by the whole experience. In fact, moved to tears.

The scariest day in my whole life

Can you think of this? The scariest day? I'm pretty comfortable knowing what day this was for me. It was right about this time back in 2003 and I was studying in Mexico. Irene was back in Texas with the boys, James and John. I get a call one night in my dormroom from Irene. She starts by saying, "First of all, everything is fine; everyone is okay."
I knew something was wrong.
She proceeds to tell me that John got lost at school.
"What!?!"
Some of you may not understand what a risk it is having kids with autism out in an open area without the ability to be with them at all times. They don't know what it means to wander and that's exactly what John did. You see, at his school, there's a large playground and it is separated from a major road by chain-link fence. What, up to this point, had gone unnoticed was that there was a large drainage ditch that passed under this road and actually connected the playground with the neighborhood on the other side of this road.
Do you see where this is going?
Nobody noticed John wander away because there were 7 other kids in his class that were also drawing attention for whatever little autistic eccentricities they have. Nobody saw him disappear into the drainage ditch and then come up on the other side. All in all, he was missing for approximately 30 minutes. The school went on complete lockdown and doubled up classes so that teachers could help search the grounds. The police were called. The entire school was in a panic and, rightly so. My three-year-old autistic son was wandering around a neighborhood all by himself and nobody knew he was there. Then, God showed an older woman this small boy wandering around by himself without an adult in sight and he wasn't responding to her. She called the police who were already patrolling the area looking for him. They picked him up and took him back to the school.
I can't imagine Irene's true feelings through this. She arrived at the school to have the principal come out to her to tell her that John was missing. His teacher was so beside herself in tears that she couldn't even face Irene. And almost immediately after Irene received this news they received the call that John was found and was okay.
He was already lost and found by the time I heard the story but it still scared me more than anything that's ever happened to me. Just the possibilities of what could've happened. It still gives me a funny feeling just to think about it.
Thank God, He's watching out for us!

Openness

I have found that I can be a really "open" sort of person. I haven't always been this way and can have a tendency to put up a front. The thing is, I have gotten to the point where, once I've gotten to know someone a little, I'll pretty much answer anything about myself they want to know. Was I a jerk in high school? Yes, sometimes. Have you ever been drunk? Yes, many times. Do you still sin? Of course, all the time. Do you sometimes doubt God's plan for you or feel like it's not what you really want? Frequently. Have you ever been arrested? Yes, more than once.
You see, I'm comfortable putting a lot of these things on my blog and I may get an earful later from people who think you shouldn't put so much or reveal so much in a blog that anyone can see but, at times, inhibitions do just that. They inhibit you. I even tell a lot of these things to my high school students hoping that maybe they can learn first, that I'm not on some sort of pedestal as a perfect specimen to be seen and also, so maybe they can learn from some of my mistakes instead of making those mistakes on their own. I may be totally deluded in this idea but I hope not.

Ethics

So, what ethical dilemmas do you face on a regular basis. I find that, as an adult, it has actually become easier for me to face certain ethical dilemmas in an ethical manner. I think part of this comes because of my increased devotion to being a Christian and part also comes from witnessing what can happen when making unethical decisions. The hard part is, we tend to find the ethical choices to be the less popular ones. We might even receive ridicule for being honest. I pray these days that God always gives me the strength to do the "right" thing instead of what everybody else is doing. Thinking of it in that manner makes me think that maybe I'm just getting old enough to not be swayed by peer pressure. Maybe I'll be eating these words in a few years. I pray that I won't.

Why do we do it?

This is a question that I believe every teacher asks themselves from time to time. Especially when you teach at a school that one might consider "rough around the edges." I teach in such a school. I have taught in such a school for the past 2 1/2 years and moved to one that is pretty much the same. Yesterday, I asked myself this question. Sometimes, when I start getting angry or frustrated with my students, I actually have to tell myself that it does not affect my job if they fail. If they try desperately to make it hard on me, I don't have to actually care whether they pass or fail my class. Is it wrong for me to tell myself that? Part of me says, "yes" and part says, "no." In fact, yesterday, I told a class that was being extremely rowdy and disrespectful that if they didn't want me to care whether they passed or failed that I could turn it off like a switch. I want my students to be successful but what price do I have to pay for them to come to my class ready to learn. It doesn't matter how good of a teacher I am. If they don't want to learn, they're not going to learn. My wife, many times, worries about the things I say to my students. I'm not really good at "beating around the bush." I pretty much say what I think my students need to hear, and, sometimes the truth hurts. I work really hard to prepare my students for the next level and tell them up front what the next level looks like. Some "get it" and some don't. In the end, I can only do so much. I really do want to make a difference in the lives of my students and I know that I may never see if I have actually made an impact. I can only try to continue to do what I think is right. Currently, it's not just the students that make me rethink my career timeline. It's also the support I get from the school district (see previous post). I planned on teaching and coaching high school for the next 10-12 years. That may be shortened to 1-3 years depending on where God wants me to be. I just trust that He opens the doors that I should walk through.
Why do we do it? Because we think we might be making a difference. There's no glory, no big paycheck and rarely do we even get a pat on the back. If that was what I was waiting on, I would have already left.

Fast Times at Newark High

So, I've completed almost 3 full weeks of work at new high school and I'm adjusting okay. It's interesting, and at times, disheartening to see how different the schools are in Delaware. First of all, at least in the school district that I work, technology sucks! From my TV not working, to not having the capabilities to show my students power point or digital pictures, to having to check out textbooks to my students by hand. It's not very pleasant having as many as 40 students in a single class, either. The students' behavior is about what I'm accustomed to but just a lot more of it. Also, there's coaching. I love to coach and enjoy every minute on the floor ten times more than the classroom. Here, I won't even see the court until November. It's a little depressing :( On top of everything, I've already had to help break up a fight. Oh, and it wasn't just a scuffle. One girl was beating another girl to a pulp! It was wild! Hopefully, I'll be able to finish writing a grant that would get me a laptop and an LCD projector. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Extremely Frustrated

So, as part of having this new teaching job in Delaware, I have to jump through a few hoops first. I have to get a TB test, I have to get my former school district to send employment verfication, get fingerprinted by the State of Delware, get a drug screening within 36 hours of being told I need one, send transcripts, get a Delaware teaching license and, last, get my doctor to sign a paper that says that I don't have any diseases, physical defects or mental health problems. I have jumped through every hoop except the last one. It's not because I haven't tried but it's because my doctor was on vacation the week between finding out this information and moving to Delaware. And she refuses to sign my form without examining me. Now, the HR person at the school district said specifically to me that it was not about having a physical. It was just to confirm the other information. In part, I understand my doctor's reluctance to sign the paper but, at the same time, even when I have had allergy problems and have gone to see her, I have called in later to get more medication for the same problem. She won't just call it in. She has to see me AGAIN! I know, I know. She has every right to want to see me before calling in medication for me. We're spoiled I guess by the fact that most other doctors we've ever had would be able to give an over-the-phone consultation and decide whether we should be seen or not. This woman has never talked to me over the phone until today to tell me that she would not sign my form. So, my insurance in TX expires today and I won't have any insurance in DE until Sept. 1. So, I have to find a doctor within the next couple of weeks to sign my form and not charge me through the nose for it. That should be easy, right?

Faith vs. Works

Words from Mark again! I just finished the 10th chapter of Mark and had an interesting thought cross my mind. Mark was mentioning some people like, Bartimaeus, who was blind and called to Jesus from the gate of Jericho. Jesus didn't lay his hands on him, he didn't spit in the dirt or stick his fingers in old Bart's ears. He simply asked, "What do you want?" Bart simply responds, "I want to see." That was it! And what was "that," you might wonder. It was faith. Jesus said that his faith had healed him. It occurred to me recently that some of the pageantry that Jesus showed in healing certain people wasn't because he needed to do that, but because the person he healed needed to know that he actually did something. In many cases though, you see him heal people without even seeing them or by them just touching the hem of his cloak. Some people need their faith enriched to the point of being healed (a sign), whereas others simply need to know that they can reach out and touch Jesus (in biblical terms physically but in our terms metaphorically). I know, I know! The title of this post says Faith vs. Works. Well, as I was reading this, it also occurred to me that there has been an age-old debate on whether faith or works get us to heaven. Well, the actual answer I believe is, neither. Grace gets us to heaven. But in the name of arguing this point, isn't the argument silly. One perpetuates the other, doesn't it. If you have true faith, doesn't it compel you to do works in the name of Christ? And if you are doing works in the name of Christ, doesn't the outcome perpetuate your faith. Something to ruminate on, I guess.

TRADITION!!!! tradition.

One of our favorite musicals to watch is, "Fiddler on the Roof." The songs are so memorable and the constant refrain about "Tradition" just rings in your brain afterward. I was just reading through Mark 7 and I came across this same theme. Jesus was talking to the Pharisees about clean and unclean and how they were putting aside the true meaning of the laws of Moses in order to maintain their traditions. I'm so glad that we don't do that these days. We actually talked about this in a sunday school class that I was in a few weeks ago. The teacher actually attended a church for a while that believed that if other churches didn't follow their exact same method of assembly, that they had got it ALL wrong. How do Christians get this way? I'm a Texas Aggie and I know and love traditions but Lord help me if I let traditions get in the way of what the bible is telling me.

Harry Potter, at last!

I hate to say it but I'm a Harry Potter fanatic. I know that Harry Potter is supposed to be for kids, well, adolescents at least but I've just been engrossed in the story. I finally, this past week, finished the seventh and final installment. It was phenomenal. I don't think it could've been written any better. I know that there are those out there that would disagree but I was rivetted from first to last and everywhere in between(ask my wife). I dare not put anything on this blog about the story so that nobody(including my wife) who hasn't found time to read it yet will see any spoilers, no matter how mild. I take comfort in the fact that I have many friends around my age that also have the same attitude toward these books. Some very close friends of ours bought the book and spent 27 hours, almost straight through, reading it. It's hard not to when you've been waiting over two years for it to come out. There's not many other books you can think of that you knew would be written but had to wait this long to actually speed through its pages. This will probably turn into one of those annual series for me. I have read all of the books, except for the last one, more than once and have read the longest of the seven in more than one language. It's one of those stories that you don't really seem to get tired of. Another friend of mine told me recently that he feels the same way about the Lord of the Rings trilogy and reads those every year. I can also compare it with the Chronicles of Narnia which my wife and I both read within the last year and plan to read them again in the future. Congratulations to J.K. Rowling for having such a great imagination and being able to share it in a way that has encouraged so many young people to read again!

Asleep at the wheel

So, how cute is this? My daughter stuffed herself and then just passed out. I wish it was okay for me to do this at the table. Lord knows I feel like it all the time. Anyway, I just wanted to share this and the fact that I not only, cleaned her with a wet rag, but also picked her up and layed her in bed for her nap without so much as a flinch.

Man of the Year

So, my wife and I watched the movie, "Man of the Year" last night. It has Robin Williams as a political satirist who runs for president and accidentally wins. The fact is, it seems a little absurd but what he does and says in the movie is everything that it seems the American people want to hear out of a presidential candidate. He's honest and isn't subject to lobbyists or special interest groups. He actually wants to listen to the people and stop repaying campaign contribution favors. It reminds me that recently in South Carolina they passed some intense legislation requiring insurance companies to cover treatment for autism. It was passed by their houses and then, vetoed by the governor. Then, the veto was unanimously overriden by the congress of that state. Whose name is "mud" at the end of that scenario. Gov. Perry just signed similar but less intense legislation in TX but was really expected to veto it. It was rumored he was being lobbied heavily by the "Big Business" reps. What sucks, is that the movie is right. A lot of politicians get in bed with these lobbyists and have to deliver favors in the end; things that are not in the best interest of the people. It seems that the last few presidential elections are routines of picking the lesser of two evils. Why can't we actually have a candidate that we might consider the, "Man of the Year." Maybe the people that would fit those qualifications don't want to tarnish their reputation by becoming president.

Matthew/Mark

So, I wanted to put a post about this while it was still pretty fresh in my brain. I've finished reading Matthew and am moving on to the book of Mark. It's an interesting transition. The things that stand out to me in Matthew are all the parables telling the same thing; you have to be ready at all times and the repetition of being put out where there is, "weeping and gnashing of teeth." I've gotten through the first three chapters of Mark, now, and Mark just really jumps into the adult life of Christ. He also tells some of the same stories as Matthew and the same references to Jesus being able to read the thoughts of the Pharisees and asking them if it is easier to do good or evil on the Sabbath or if it is easier to tell someone their sins are forgiven or to actually heal them. A lot of this is familiar because they're used over and over again. There is one underlying theme, though, that I've just picked up on in my reading. It's the impression the people have about Jesus. In the first chapter or two of Mark and I can remember seeing it in Matthew, the people listen to Jesus and think of him as someone whom actually speaks with authority, "not like the teachers of the law." So, he speaks to them in a way that they have never heard AND they can tell that, by the way he speaks, that there is something really special about his relationship with God. Also, I'm sure because of this impression, he's turned into a superstar. Maybe that's the origin of "Jesus Christ: Superstar." Anyway, it talks in Matthew and already in Mark about how big the crowds were and how hard it was just to get near Jesus or even see him. It talks about him having to, not necesssarily flee the crowd, but having to keep himself moving and finding different places in order to be able to speak to them. Some of the imagery, to me, conjures up the media and fans swarming the entertainment stars of today so much that they can't hardly move, go out in public or, at times, even leave their house. That's Jesus. Why can't we be like that today? He may not be in bodily form today but that doesn't stop the Elvis "freaks" or any of the other fanatics who "worship" their dead heroes; and Jesus isn't dead he's alive! Do we have him as our background on our desktop? Do we have a Jesus screensaver? This train of thought reminds me of a book I read parts of a few years back called, Jesus Freaks. It's a book about Christian martyrs. I highly recommend it.

Interesting Information

Those of you who blog, may or may not know about a thing called Analytics. It's a neat little thing that you can set up for your blog that tracks how often people visit your blog and where they are located. Since this blog is new, hardly anyone knows about it but I checked my Analytics today and noticed that I have quite a few visits from Henderson, TX. I was telling my wife and she noticed she had the same thing. We can't remember if we even know anyone from Henderson. So, whoever you are, leave us a comment and let us know what has attracted you to our blogs. We'd love to find out.

The Great Game of Red Rover

So, I was reading Matthew 20 earlier. There's a lot of interesting things in this chapter, including the mother of James and John(not Irene) asking Jesus for her sons to sit at his left and right hand in the kingdom. It was in this section that Jesus reiterated his statement, "So the last will be fitst, and the first will be last"(Matt. 20:16). It's funny because this always makes me think of a line that you stand in, like a lunch-line at school. The last will be first, so, the last person in line gets to move to the front and the first person to the end. Anyway, today has changed forever in my mind what my impression is of this "line." It's not a front-to-back line but a side-to-side line like in the game, Red Rover. We've all joined hands and are calling to those on the other side, "Red Rover, Red Rover let _______ come over!" As we show each non-believer that our bond is unbroken and add them to our team, our team rejoices for each that we have added to our number. We added another to our number this morning at our church. A member of our church baptized his daughter and the church rejoiced with smiles, applause and I even witnessed a sweet tear of joy. May we keep calling them and adding them to our number!

Matthew 11&12

So, I was reading these chapters of the gospel, Matthew, earlier. It's really interesting to see the main two points that Jesus makes in these chapters. First of all, he talks about John the Baptist who is in jail at this time. He essentially says that John is the best there is on earth. At the same time, he says that the least in Heaven is better than John. So, what does that make us? He also begins his teaching of the Pharisees what it really means to follow God. He's trying to show them the downfall of their dogma. What I also see is this stubborness of the Pharisees that, even though they see him perform miracles, their answer is a plot to kill him. It reminds me of the Catholic conspiracy theorist of this age that say that the Catholic Church would get rid of anyone who might try to discredit the deity of Christ. That even if there were proof, they would deny this so as to hold on to their power. An interesting parallel there that makes it not so far fetched. Of course, for me, I feel Christ too much in my heart for there to ever be proof that he did not do the things he did and IS not who he proclaimed to be. Food for thought.

Delaware

So, we went to DE last week and may be moving there. Frankly, it's a little unnerving to me to not have made a final decision. I feel like God has opened all the doors leading that way. That's exactly what I've been praying for. It's a little scary to think that we may move away from everything and everybody we know but there are so many advantages we can give the kids out there that just aren't available to us in Texas. Hopefully, we won't have to stress about it much longer.

My Second Official Entry

Now it's time to start letting it out! I'm a teacher at a low-performing high school and I have plenty to let out at this point. I got called a f****** cracker last week by a student! I was so frustrated by it that I can't even remember if I told the kid to come say it to my face but I know I was at least thinking it. Maybe I thought it out loud. I don't know if Bryan High is in my future. Right now, it doesn't look like it. I'm ready to be at a school that at least has a better reputation for learning. It's not completely true but Bryan High at least does not have a reputation that their students are there to learn. Some of that reputation plays out and some doesn't. We'll see if I end up here next year. Right now, I'm thinking we may just go to Delaware.