Worth circulating to kids in your sports program

Kids, regardless of where they live, frequently get on horses. Some are fortunate, live in rural areas, have adequate resources to be able to afford horses or are able to work and get the use of horses in that way. Others get on horses only on rare occasions -- pony rides, dude ranch visits, happenstance opportunities -- including church youth group trips.

We've talked about safety in sports before, but this video, of Courtney King Dye, the upper level Dressage rider, who suffered a traumatic brain injury while warming up for a competition, makes the important point that you should NEVER get on an equine without a properly fitted helmet, regardless of how low-risk things may seem to be at the time.

If you're not conversant with horse lore, Dressage is generally considered the safest horse sport around. The horses are extremely well trained, they do not jump, and all riding takes place in a ring. Courtney King Dye WAS riding at the highest levels of the sport. She was anything but an amateur; she WAS a highly skilled professional. Grit your teeth and look at her now.

It's painful to watch and listen to this video, but I urge you to do so, and to encourage the kids to watch it as well.

Why what Trinity Wall Street is doing is important

Since I started this blog a few years ago a number of people (not a big number, but big enough to think about) have made comments like this to me: (this is a composite of several questions)

"We would love to have sports in our church, but we're tucked into the middle of a city block, and the only open area around us is the alley where the super takes the trash out. We do have a church hall, but it isn't very big, and somebody put a huge crystal chandelier right in the middle of the room about 15 years ago, and we don't dare move it, and even if we did, all the windows are Tiffany glass, so we can't play inside either. Furthermore, the whole congregation is 70+ years old."

When I mention Trinity Wall Street, I'm referring, of course, to their recent announcement that they will be sponsoring two Little League teams, and encourage their congregation to attend games and cheer the kids on.

And, while the average age of their congregation isn't 70+, they are surrounded by skyscrapers and there's no place to play outside, except for the (historic) graveyard. In other words, they can't really play outside.

What they do have is sufficient money to sponsor two Little League teams (who will be playing on athletic fields built as part of the deal when real estate developers put up some housing on Hudson River landfill.

Let's assume that your parish can't underwrite two Little League teams. But what you can do is donate enough to a local soccer or baseball or basketball or other youth sports organization for one needy kid to play for one season. In our area, to do this for a needy travel soccer kid, it's about $100. In more affluent areas, it's probably twice or three times that. Ask the volunteers who run the leagues or the teams. You may find you get a really warm welcome.

Bravo, Trinity Wall Street

This just in.
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Trinity Wall Street has gotten on the bandwagon, and we are glad for it. Not one but TWO little league teams!!

Congratulations!! The kids and their parents will thank you for this.

For our Anglican friends in the UK

I guess that we Episcopalians in the United States always perceive themselves as a little more enlightened than most of the rest of the Anglican Communion, but we do have to give credit where credit is due. In this case, the credit is due to the Diocese of London of the Church of England.

The Diocese of London is looking for an Olympic Coordinator!! Glory be to God!!

(Actually, the job title is "Olympic Mobiliser" -- and of course Blogspot flagged my UK spelling on that one.....)

A bad example

Well, I was certainly among those applauding when the National Football League decided to face up to the evidence that repeated concussions contribute significantly to brain disease.

Regretably, it appears to have simply been a publicity stunt at best or legal loss prevention at worst. The example of cynicism set by the National Football League to college, high school, and youth athletes in all sports is nothing short of heinous.

If you are involved in youth sports, after the debacle on Sunday, your job in trying to care for the brains of your players just got a whole lot harder.

Physical Activity and Kids

The Center for Disease Control has taken a significant stand in favor of increased physical activity for kids in school programs and family activities.

The post attached provides lots of resources for use in convincing recalcitrant school administrators that physical activity is important. We submit that the same material can and should be used on religious leaders. Here's the link. Use it!

Sexism and the IOC

When you're involved with providing a sports program for kids, you occasionally hear about something that just plain is wrong -- and when it affects one of the kids in your program, you have at least some obligation to try to set it right. When you are involved on behalf of a church, you have even more obligation to do the right thing.

Well, although my church program does not include ski jumping (our field is flat as a pancake -- maybe we could do biathlon) we do have a couple of kids who do jump competitively, and others who occasionally participate who jump very competitively.

Did you know that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not permit women to ski jump in the Olympics?

I didn't either until I read this article in the New York Times today.

Nope, the old goats permit women to box, and to play rugby as Olympic sports, but they cannot ski jump. The IOC raises what is pretty clearly a lame excuse: that there isn't enough competition for women in ski jumping to permit them to have sufficient experience. Well, here in the very small town of Salisbury, Connecticut, we have ski jumping (open to both sexes and competitive for both) and we are definitely the minor leagues.

Fact is that the only possible reason that women cannot jump in the Winter Olympics is pure, unadulterated sexism. "Oh dear, the poor things might hurt themselves!" one can hear those blue-blazered old buffoons of the IOC muttering into their Dom Perignons.

But these are the same buffoons who HAVE approved women boxing and women's rugby as Olympic sports. How can that be? Easy answer: "ladies" don't box and don't play rugby -- but they DO ski! What if some well-bred young lady suddenly got it into her head that she wanted to -- gasp -- ski jump?

The whole thing is absurd on the face of it, but I guess we have a crusade to mount -- just to get women the right to compete in ski jumping at an Olympic level.

Where to begin?