A Roof Above Us

When I was a kid, my mum coached our netball team. Garrett Hartley Steelers Jersey . Shed never played, and taught herself the rules with a tattered paperback shed borrowed from the library. She only signed up because nobody else would. At first I was proud she was so committed to my sporting life that shed coach a game shed never played. But that soon changed.Some days it was the best having her around. She was funny and kind and the other girls loved her. But some days I hated how being the coachs daughter made me stand apart. Plus, her obsession with fairness meant I rarely played the position I wanted, lest it be seen as favoritism. And I could forget ever winning most valuable player.So when my daughter started a netball team and they needed a coach, I fled. The last thing I wanted was for my daughter to feel as confused as Id felt as a teenager. My feelings about all that changed quickly.My mum, whod been fighting?cancer for 18 months, died. Suddenly, my rock, someone Id relied on, was gone. That hit home when I undertook the wrenching task of sorting through her possessions and a million memories surfaced. Among them, a photograph?of her and I taken on the day we won our first netball championship back in 1982. I was 12, tall and slim with a long ponytail and a grin from ear to ear. Mum was next to me, wearing a grin equal to my own. I hadnt seen that photo for a long time. And it rocked me. It made me realize that I wasnt just grieving my mums death, I was grieving the loss of being a child.With her gone, nobody knew when my first tooth had fallen out, or how I cried after my boyfriend dumped me. That part of my history was lost. I ached for some connection to it. I hoped that maybe if I could coach like she had, some link to my past would still live.At the first few training sessions I was terrified. The kids were learning the game, I was learning how to coach, and somewhere a ghost of my mum hovered on the sidelines smiling at the whole catastrophe. When my daughter flashed a look of fury my way during a game, I realized we needed some ground rules. I agreed that fairness meant letting her play the position she liked as often as the rest of the girls, and she agreed not to think she could get away with stuff just because we were related.Coaching was something I took on for personal reasons, to try to be close to a mum who was no longer here. I never expected to actually enjoy it. Three years in, I have discovered more about myself than I thought possible.Ive rediscovered a love of netball and now play again in an adult team. Ive uncovered a love of teaching and most weeks look forward to training nights when I can help the girls to learn new skills and strive to improve. And Ive realized that mum never coached to learn about netball, or to help us win championships. She coached to be close to me and show she cared. Even if Im not the greatest coach in the world, thats exactly why Im doing it too.Thats what I lost when she died. Not my childhood memories or a connection to my past, but someone to teach me how to be a mother. Perhaps by finding that photograph my mums parenting choices and style have found a way to live on. Just like netball gave mum and I the way to share belonging to a team, I now get to share my daughters special world. It also gives me rare insight into her friendships and closeness with her friends that I wouldnt otherwise have.They call me (affectionately, I hope) the hugger, because so often with a tween-aged team of 10 girls, there are tears. Someone is always feeling something strongly, and more often than not my role is to sit, listen and counsel. I not only coach them netball skills but also friendship skills.When mum died an old friend that I hadnt seen in many years contacted me via email. She told me how jealous shed been of my relationship with my mum when she was a teenager, because my mum was one of those involved mums who was always there, and always approachable. I think coaching did that.At the time I never noticed, but now that Im in the same boat, I see how lucky I am. Granted my daughter doesnt always like that Im her coach, but sometimes she does, and for now, those rare times are enough. Hopefully when shes grown up and Im gone, shell look back as fondly as I do and maybe coach her daughters team too.Nova Weetman lives in Melbourne, Australia. She writes childrens books and writes childrens television shows, and she loves the game of netball. Custom Steelers Jersey . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. Cortez Allen Steelers Jersey . Giroud, who wasnt in the starting lineup for two matches after allegations about his private life and a decline in form, scored twice in the first half. Tomas Rosickys chip made it 3-0 before half time at Emirates Stadium, while defender Laurent Koscielny scored an unmarked header in the second half. http://www.shoptheofficialsteelers.com/Elite-Maurkice-Pouncey-Steelers-Jersey/ . Oyama had six birdies and two bogeys at Kintetsu Kashikojima in the event also sanctioned by the Japan LPGA Tour. "I have been having this neck ache thats been affecting my golf recently," Oyama said. There could soon be fewer current South African cricketers in T20 leagues as a result of a renewed focus on the national team. The pre-season culture camp, in which South Africa addressed the issues of their worst season since readmission in 2015-16 and plotted a new path, resulted in a re-commitment to the country cause, something coach Russell Domingo had called for after South Africa failed to reach the final of the Caribbean triangular series in June.I am going to get abused for saying it again, but theres so much cricket being played and when you do things like go to a tour to West Indies, and guys are arriving a day before you play, the intensity will never be what it needs to be, Domingo said. As a group, weve made a collective decision that our main focus and our main decision is playing for our country and giving everything when we play for our country.At times, with the amount of cricket you can play, it can be seen to be playing another game, and it is not [just] another game when you play for your country. That is something the team, the coaches, the management, might all have been a little bit guilty of. Every single time you play for your country or you are involved in a national game, that space has got to be honoured and respected. Maybe thats the mental shift we have made. Maybe in the past, with the number of games being played and the number of tournaments and events - IPLs, Big Bashes, CPLs - maybe the focus wasnt where it needed to be.Asked whether that meant cutting down on game time in T20 leagues Domingo said he was hoping so.With the declining rand and a sparse playing schedule, South African players have the motivation and the time to sign T20 contracts everywhere except the Big Bash. They are able to play in the entire IPL and usually in the CPL too, which takes place in the South African winter. This year, some players went straight from a home summer to the World T20, the IPL, the Caribbean series and the CPL - and what suffered was the national teams performance.Then, Domingo said he needed to find ways of making sure players were kept sharp. Now, he has indicated the same thing but with the knowledge the players are as committed to the idea as he wants them to be. Well be making sure that mentally and physically they are absolutely switched on when they play for their country, he said. Maybe, in the past, it wasnt always that. Bruce Gradkowski Steelers Jersey. Australia may be interested to hear what the power of a mental shift can do, especially as their own mentality has come into question following several lower-order collapses. Domingo could sympathise with their plight - his team was doing the same thing last season - and his message was that they may need to mend some mindsets after their fourth successive Test defeat.Its about confidence, Domingo said. We came back from India and we took a beating there under tough conditions. A lot of players confidence was dented. We missed a couple of big players and when you have some players with low confidence and one or two top players not there, it makes things very hard. I am assuming they might be in that space at the moment. I dont know whats going on with their players and in their change room, but I know we were in that position a few months ago and it takes a bit of introspection to get out of that phase.Confidence has already served South Africa well in the short time since their culture camp. They won a Test series against New Zealand and whitewashed Australia in five ODIs to start this season well. There is no doubt that theres nothing like confidence in cricket. Having won some games against Australia, it gives players the belief that we can beat this side. Like most things in life, if you are confident in your ability to do it, you will get it right.The end result was seen in one of their greatest comebacks in the opening match in Perth. Despite a depleted attack and a disastrous day one, this Test is now being spoken about as the best of some players careers, including captain Faf du Plessis. Its also a highlight for Domingo, who has quietly allowed the pressure to dissipate and the success to sink in.In terms of my three years - weve won in Sri Lanka under tough conditions, in Dubai - but these have been the four best Test days of Test cricket, after day one, that I have ever been part of, Domingo said. To have only two bowlers, a debutant spinner, a middle order with a lot of questions asked about JP Duminy by the media and public (although we never doubted it), there was a lot of pressure. As far as I am concerned, its the best four days I have seen. In my tenure, thats the best performance Ive seen. Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '