Sonya Elliott – Page 24 – Back on the Court

PEACELOVEBASKETBALL: Life Rules

A friend asked me to help coach a 6th grade boys basketball team this fall. A couple of years ago I stepped down as Varsity Head Coach of the West Seattle High School girl’s program and I wasn’t sure I wanted to coach again, but when I stepped onto the court and saw the boys hustling across the floor at tryouts, I knew it was the right decision. When I got home, I went straight to my office, pulled open my coaching file and started planning. I scanned the first three documents in my coaching notebook, Westside Big 5, West Seattle Practice Rules and “10 to Win” Westside Rules of Defense, two of the three have nothing to do with basketball skills, a reminder to me of what coaching is truly about, teaching life skills.

Whether your players are in grade school or college there’s more to teach than just the fundamentals. Don’t get me wrong, I have coached for 25 years, and I love the fundamentals, I’m a stickler for the fundamentals, but I try to build a team mentality and have some fun along the way. At the varsity level there is an emphasis on winning, but what made our 2015 West Seattle team strong in the end, what got them to go undefeated in league and find success at the State level, was a belief in one another. This team mentality and positive attitude was backed with pride and sportsmanship. And, if you asked the girls, I believe they would say they are grateful for their experience and their teammates.

I’ll only have these 6th grade boys for a short practice once a week, and I will focus on the fundamentals and […]

Monday’s Pen to Paper: Writing is hard. I give up.

It’s hard to write. I have yet to get on an ongoing regular schedule. I have had times where I’m on task and I love it, then life gets in the way. Last year I cleaned up and sold one house and remodeled and sold another. That took up a lot of time and energy. In the spring we had extended family living with us, which bit into free time, and then during the summer my kids are both around, so I’m always busy. Simply put, finding time to write can be a struggle.

Sometimes I just want to give up.

I have written posts about how I’m working on finding time to write, and what I have realized is that if you have a busy life, and have not established yourself as a writer in your mind, or by receiving a good paycheck, its hard to justify putting writing first. The kids, the dishes, the dogs, the groceries, work, and everything else seems to get priority.

So what can you do?

Reevaluate your schedule often. Figure out what is important to you and make a place for it in your life. Writing is important to me, but I also have other priorities. My family comes first, and then of course I love to play basketball and be active, and…and…and, this is why I have to sit down and reassess how to keep writing in my schedule.

I write once a week with my friend Jenny (that’s a given), and what has worked best for me after that is to grab my computer and go to “the office” (a coffee shop away from my house and my responsibilities). Still, this is not easy and unless I give myself a little talking to, […]

PeaceLoveBasketball Friday: Give It a Rest

All of my life I have been active and when I’m on the court, I go all out, but I also know how important it is to have my body working. I spent time in a wheel chair when I was 24 years old, I’ve been on crutches a couple of times, and I’ve sprained ankles, torn ligaments and fought tendonitis and when I’m hurt it’s a lot more difficult to do the things I want to do, so I do what I can to stay healthy, which sometimes means giving my body a break.

Recently my daughter went in for her second knee surgery in less than a year. The doctors had to stitch down the meniscus and she was given a three-month timeline for getting back on the court. After her first surgery many questioned her then two-month timeline. “My meniscus tear only took 3 weeks”, “I was walking the next day.” I suggested she work hard on rehab but even more important, listen to her body. It is more important for her knee to be healed for the long run.

As athletes we must learn to really listen to our bodies. We are taught to push ourselves to the limit, to go beyond what we are capable of, that’s what good athlete’s do, but we also need to understand that our bodies are our temples, our vehicles for living the life we want to live.

Without a healthy body you can’t run the race, play the game, climb the mountain. So if your body needs it, give it a rest.

Would rest have made a difference for my daughter last year? No one knows for sure, she waited two months while doing rehab so that shouldn’t have […]