Pray for the Boston Marathon Victims and Their Families...

My prayers are with the Boston Marathon bombing victims and their families. This is a tragedy beyond comprehension.

On a positive note, I was proud to hear about the many amazing acts of heroism, selflessness, and even flat-out thankfulness. It appears that first-responders and emergency personnel were key in getting the distressing event under control.

I have also to point out that many marathon participants, onlookers, and others performed integral actions in helping others. Many runners immediately went to hospitals and offered to give blood. Others took action helping the wounded. And some even showed courage while fear was beyond comprehension.

Bottom line--teamwork. Please learn from this tragedy and value people working together for a common goal. Everyone on a team is important from the weakest link to the strongest.

If you'd like to help, please considering donating and retweeting the following:

You can help by donating at patriots.com/donate with "Boston Marathon" in the message field. #thankyou
— Joe Andruzzi (@Andruzzi63) April 16, 2013

Thanks in advance to all who are supporting this recovery.

PEACE will prevail.

Kim

Super Bowl Highlights and Lance Armstrong Lowlights

Super Bowl 2013--Fantastic! Like it or not, the Baltimore Ravens beat the San Francisco 49ers 34-31.

The game made history with a blowout first half (Ravens took a 21-6 lead), a spectacular Beyonce halftime performance (no lip-syncing and lots of dynamic dancing), a power outage (resulting in 30+ minute game delay), and a momentum-shift second half (49ers nearly took the lead).

Stepping back to the Lance Armstrong scandal, I believe enough has been said already. I can't seriously believe anything that Armstrong says or does is legitimate considering all the lies over the years. And that's all I'm going to say because I do not believe he deserves any further publicity.

The people who deserve the limelight right now are Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco and 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. These two guys were phenomenal, in addition to the rest of their teammates. I was most impressed with how all the players remained calm throughout.

If this mom (and non-football player) followed the game (and actually understood what was going on), then you know it was a great game. Sorry, moms, I'm sure many of you know the ins and outs of football, but many of us females still struggle a bit. Have you ever seen me throw a ball? Don't even bother to picture it. I once threw the remote control across the room to Ed, not AT Ed, and the remote hit his glass of wine (which immediately broke and stained the carpet, needless to say).

One last issue to mention...President Obama commented on concussions and football. In my next post, I will rant yet again.

Congratulations, Joe Flacco and the Baltimore Ravens!

-Kim

Fall from Grace?

Tour-de-France superstar Lance Armstrong appears on Oprah tonight. Following years of years of alleged scandal, what precisely will Armstrong address and what will he admit? That remains to be seen.

You can view the two-night worldwide exclusive tonight (Jan. 17) at 9/8c on OWNTV.

I'll comment after both shows air.

-Kim

Revisiting Resilience...

I'm finally getting back to the resilience topic. Better late than never...(as the saying goes).

Given the fact that it has taken me over a month to write this post, I'm certain resilience is an important topic. And I am a good example. My intention to write this post weeks ago were good, but life got in my way--Thanksgiving, work projects, youth sports games...blah, blah, blah.

At last, I stepped back and looked at my process. Without resilience, I might have shut my blog down and disappeared. Instead, I determined that writing in the morning before my day begins might solve my problem. Even if I didn't write the entire post in one day, at least it would be a step in the right direction...progress...words are on the screen.

Resilience means bouncing back, persevering, not letting negative outcomes or results or lack of progress get you down. Did Michael Jordan stop playing basketball when he was cut from his High School basketball team? No. He clearly moved forward and became one of the best professional basketball players in the world.

My point here is that you should help your child persevere when he or she loves a sport. With or without talent, he or she can always improve and become a better player. Keep your eyes open for opportunities to help her learn or even to step back in order to progress forward.

For the last several years my son Cameron was quite a bit smaller than other players in his age group. Cameron had to work hard to earn a spot on a high-level hockey team. At last he grew this summer and is now average size. And he now stands out as a strong, skilled player. Last year you would have never noticed him on the ice. He blended in and barely held his own.

I am thankful Cameron kept trying out for a high-level hockey team year after year and kept working hard. He is now where he wants to be and hopes to go beyond. We are yet again looking at the process and deciding what steps he can take to progress even further.

Circumstances, players, coaches, teams, etc. are forever changing. Your child can adapt. You can adapt. You can learn from good experiences and learn from bad experiences, as well. Just help your child to continue moving forward. Embrace resilience.

I would love to hear your stories on how your child athlete has remained resilient resulting in a positive outcome. Please post your comments...

Resilience...

Today, I recommend listening to this video of Bruce Bochy, San Francisco Giants Manager,  posted on The Positive Coaching Alliance web site. Coach Bochy elaborates on how young athletes can develop resilience and why it is important.

Resilience is key for successful young athletes. I've seen many parents protect their kids from failures and to a degree from defeat in sports. You know the type--the mom who doesn't allow her son to try out for a high-level team and risk getting cut. Instead, she guides her son to a local, lower-level team.

Please watch the video (link above) and ponder this. Tomorrow, I will write another post on the topic because I have a lot more to say...

Kim