Softball season in Mommycosm

Counters cluttered?

Fur bunnies breeding freely on the floors?

Kids searching for last pair of clean underwear to wear to school?

Too many take out boxes in the fridge?

Husband feeling lonely and left out?

It must be softball season in Mommycosm.

Yep.  Tryouts started last night.  For those of you new to Spring in the Cosm, I have been coaching high school girls' softball for over 10 years on the Seacoast of New Hampshire (and sometimes in Aruba).  This year, I have my first varsity head coach position at an incredibly wonderful high school - one that used to be my most heated rival.  I am now the enemy [insert evil laugh].

The season is 11ish weeks of RUNNING while attempting to stay one step ahead of those high school girls.  Whew!  We go six days a week most weeks.  But I love it and my family is incredibly supportive so that I am able to pull it all off.

Tryout are always a bit painful for me.  For starters, it's difficult to just sit back and evaluate without actually coaching.  It totally goes against natural order.  I want to get in there and help the girls improve.  My tongue practically bleeds from biting it so hard.  

The worst part though?

Making cuts at end of team selection.  I hate to turn away any girl wanting to play a sport.  And this year Selection Day just so happens to take place on my birthday.  Yep, I get to make girls cry on my birthday.

Happy Birthday to me!

If things get a little dusty around here, please forgive me.  It's just softball season in Mommycosm.

Will you pledge to help athletes BECOME the best they can be? Oh, and who wants to win a soccer ball signed by noneotherthan Brandi Chastain?

Updated on Friday, September 2, 2011 at 08:35AM by Mommycosm

Regular Mommycosm readers are aware that I coach high school softball.  It consumes me each spring for about 10 weeks.  I know.  Most people think I am crazy for choosing to spend that much time with high school girls.  They can be brutal.  Believe me, I know.

But I've been coaching for over 10 years now.  While I love the sport of softball and enjoy teaching the skills required of the game, I am more drawn to this age group because they are SO in need of good role models.  The teen years are pivotal in their development of self esteem - and a bad coach can be extremely harmful. 

I like to think I am one of the good coaches.  I can see an improvement within each season with the way the girls respect themselves and each other.  It's intoxicating... and keeps me going back each year despite the obvious challenges of dealing with high school girls.  Have I mentioned they can be brutal? 

I like to think I'm molding good softball players... and great citizens.

Not gonna lie.  As my own children get older and more involved with sports, it's been a challenge to juggle our crazy schedules.  I haven't been able to coach their teams as often as I would like.  So far, their coaches have been wonderful.  But I'm sure there will come a time when I need to step in and do the same for them that I have been doing for 100's of high school girls over the years... show them how to BECOME better athletes.

This is why Gatorade's new BECOME program resonates strongly with me.

From a recent email:

Click to read more ...

Coach Kim hosts Ragú® spaghetti dinner for team [sponsored]

I mentioned last week my appointment as an Ambassador in the Ragú^®  Mom's the Word on Dinner Program. 

Well, one cool part of my Ambassadorship includes hosting a couple of in-home parties sponsored by Ragú^®.  Easy peasy for a softball coach, huh?  Especially since my summer team qualified for the NSA World Series down in Chattanooga, TN.  They are down there all this week... without me.  I helped with fund raising, but when it came down to it, could not make the trip myself :(

One cool thing I could do for them before they took off: Host a Ragú^®spaghetti dinner for the entire team, coaches and their families.  So.Much.Fun!

Click to read more ...

Creative fund raising ideas

Looking for a "how to" post?

Sorry.  Not here.  I'm looking for ideas myself.

We have around $15,000 to raise in 2 weeks in order to fund my u-16 softball team's trip to the nationals.  

I know.  I know.  This goes well beyond dipping my toes in softball this summer.  I'm all in.

Let's stop pretending I'm not. <-- and... that statement is more for me than you, lol

Some ideas from others:

• Have people donate items for a yard sale.  All proceeds benefit the fund.
• Local restaurant nights
• Sponsorship opportunities for local businesses
• Set up a PayPal account for families/friends to donate from afar

We can't tag in our town b/c it requires a permit which can take a few weeks to acquire.  We don't have a few weeks.  If we don't raise enough money by mid-month, we can't go.

The team was mentioned in the local paper - but that was before our PayPal account was set up.  Will be reaching out to the local media for coverage this week. I am using the holiday weekend to get ducks in a row to approach a few big brands.  Early estimates show that we have over 10,000 Facebook friends combined.  That's pretty impressive.

I'm confident in my ability to get stuff for the team.  But with such a quick turnaround, not sure how likely cold hard cash will happen from the big guns.  Useful stuff could cut down our expenses, so I'm still going to try.... but we really need money.  STAT.

Any other creative ideas?

Oh, and if you would like to give $1, $5, $25 or more to help us get to Chattanooga, go to PayPal.com and click "send money"... our account is: doverxtreme@gmail.com.  

Note: We had someone apologize when then handed over a $25 check.  Seriously.  We'd take $1 and be extremely appreciative.  The small stuff adds up.  Think about it.  $1 from each of our Facebook friends could almost get us there.

Protech Dent™ Mouth Guard [giveaway]

Since we're already on the subject of softball today, I'd like to bring up the topic of safety in sports.

I know.  Back in the day when I played softball, we didn't have cages and straps on our batting helments or fancy, schmancy sliding shorts.  We picked gravel out of our hips.  This one time, a friend even had her jaw wired shut for weeks because she failed to catch the ball with her glove and chose to eat it instead.

Ouch.  Very ouch.

That is why, as a high school softball coach, I am a huge advocate for players wearing mouth guards.  SO many parents these days spend thousands of dollars on orthodotist visits to make their kids' teeth perfect.  It takes one second, one ball to knock a few of them out.

Mom Spark Media recently contacted me with an opportunity to review the Protech Dent™ Mouth Guard.  I must say, I am very impressed.  It is the first mouth guard I have seen beyond the standard-issue hockey style.  You know the ones I'm talking about.  Not so pretty.  Thick.  Hard to talk and swallow. 

Which is why it is a tough sell to get high school girls to wear them!  ehem

The Protech Dent™ Mouth Guard is thinner and softer then other mouth guards I have seen.  It even has holes that allow for, say, breathing... or talking... or taking a drink of water.  Go figure.  They even come in pink, which I know some of my players would love.

If you have a kid in sports, I definitely recommend checking out the Protech Dent™ Mouth Guard.  At $24.99, I'd say a mouth guard is a cheap insurance policy.

Now, I try to provide balanced reviews that include a con.  So, I guess someone who wouldn't find this product useful would be... I don't know, someone without teeth?  Yeah, that's all I've got.

Giveaway:

One lucky Mommycosm reader will also get to try out a FREE youth or adult Protech Dent™ Mouth Guard. 

Wanna win?

Mandatory Entry: Simply leave a comment on this post with your first name and state initials. Tell me which of your family members would use the product and for which sport.

Easy peasy.  One comment per person, please.

Deadline:

All comments must be received by Tuesday, July5, 2011 at 7am.  Mommycosm will use Random.org to choose the winner.  Any comments received after the deadline will not be considered for the giveaway.

Disclosure:

I received a Protech Dent™ Mouth Guard for free in order to facilitate my review.  This opportunity came to me via Mom Spark Media.  Opinions are my own.

Update on Tuesday, July 5, 2011 at 01:31PM by Mommycosm

And the winner is...

Which is this comment...

Congratulations, Court in NH :)