Friday, March 8, 2013

March Madness

March Madness….

I wrote about it last year…and I’m going to touch on it again…. I’m not sure what “sports season” is more memorable for me with my dad, considering he pretty much was my coach for all of them (minus track season which I considered was my dad/coach break).  Somehow, he still had a lot of opinions for me and he secretly talked to the Coach Haught’s more than I probably know) J
A friend shared some pictures he’d found going through a media stick, and they really brought back some good memories.  (And some NERVOUS ones) from the State Tournament in 2001.  I think I can still feel the need to just want to throw up prior to running out on the Civic Center’s gym floor surrounded by seats filled with our loyal fans.  Looking back…that is one of my best sports memories…ever. 
 
You never really appreciate a feeling until later in life when you realize just how special it truly was.  I still feel many days I never actually showed how much I as a person appreciated the fan support/special supporters  we had through high school.  It always added to the excitement of the game, and it brings back a tough thing for me to talk about that I think is a reason I’ve hid from it a little bit.  I am a little disappointed in myself for this too.  Flipping through the news channels the other night and the girl’s state tournament coverage was on, I couldn’t help but think it was just yesterday our team was battling in those games.   I think I’m sometimes scared of my feelings I will feel going back to a high school game, and it shouldn’t be how I am. 
 
I cannot express how many late nights I spent in Ritchie County High School’s gym shooting baskets with dad.  Given a busy day or something, we still had to get the “repetition” in for shooting.  Spending so much time in a place with a person makes is a little difficult to swallow now when you realize just what that time meant to you now looking back. 

I don’t spend as much time as I may type about on here “looking back”…I use a lot of “looking back” moments to justify ways to handle the “now”.  I know a lot of who I am today is because of those moments, and when I’m trying to figure out how to handle a situation I try to evaluate things in the past, the outcome, and maybe how I should alter to get a different outcome now.  You talk a lot about STUFF when shooting 100’s of shots.  I probably try too hard with these 2nd to 5th graders I coach now…trying to get them to embrace understanding more outside the game of basketball J 
I am going to regret sharing this story…as it may be painful for my dad to know I even said this…I made the ref swear to secrecy…  BUT…. My little team lost last weekend…(I know…devastating)… nobody wants to win more than I do…. HOWEVER….  The ref was teasing me about finally losing a game…. And I hesitated and said you know…. (after making him swear he wouldn’t repeat I said this)… We needed to lose that game….We needed to lose….Practices had started to get too “easy”…. They wouldn’t listen to a lot of specifics of things that they needed to work on because “Coach we’ve been winning” (pretty much for 2 years for some on the team)…. These kids were so mad…I heard every excuse in the book why we lost and none of which was their fault (if anyone witnessed the 40 lay-ups that were missed and so forth you’d know why we lost) J….  My kids didn’t know how to lose.  It’s not an easy thing to accept…but it’s just as important to know how to lose…as it is to win.  Tempers were flaring, fits were being thrown, pouting, blaming…. It was rather ugly….and I was a little disappointed.  How do you teach a kid “to lose?”  Who wants to teach a kid to lose?...NOT ME…..
But yet…. We don’t always win in life…nothing will ALWAYS go your way…and at some point it has to be accepted so that when something even more serious doesn’t go your way….you don’t just give up.
I didn’ t really intend for this story to come full circle such as this, but…. Dad had a temperature 2 weekends ago of 105 (yes…you read that correctly)….. He slept for pretty much 2 solid days, wasn’t really eating much of anything if at all… it was truly the weakest moment I’ve ever seen my dad….I left the house with the worst feeling I’ve ever had through this…I’m not even sure if I said a word the entire way home.  How he keeps on fighting I will never truly know.  How he refuses to never give up….I’m not sure no matter how many long runs I reflect and think about things, I will ever know.  I just hope I never lose the desire to be a fighter like my dad.

 

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

What are you doing March 16th?

I’m going to avoid apologizing for not keeping up blogging very well J 
..........You’ve heard all my excuses J 
 
I’ve got lots to share so I’ll try to break it down by each activity so nothing gets lost in the mix…I don’t want this blog entry to be  a sequel to my many novels I’ve previously written…. And it gives me something to talk about (as if that’s ever been a problem) J
I wanted to share a little “Team Spangler” event we are joining in on to help out.  A new found Parkinson’s friend of mine from Charleston in hosting a Walk on March 16th at Charleston’s Capital Market starting at 10am.  I am working on pulling together anyone who would love to join us for this (it’s a 5K) Dogs are welcome (I’m still debating if Smokes will behave)….  But we’d love to have you there!!!  We are asking for $15 a person, $25 if you’d need/want a Team Spangler shirt.  I will handle the registration for our team.. any excess money we may raise I will contribute via our Team Fox Team webpage. 
We’d LOVE to have you join us….he has worked really hard on this event and it’s looking to be great!  Capital Market hosts a Chili event afterwards as well. You can find more detailed information here: Fox Trot (just click on the link)  If you’d like to join us it will be a great day!!!  Just Email me: MissySpangler22@yahoo.com  I look forward to hearing & seeing you there J
 
 
And in case anyone would like to freak out with me about where I should be training wise and my grumpiness towards this winter weather to run in…..
Vancouver is 61 days away….we’ve got this J