
^^ photo credit: Memes for Jesus
I've been wanting to write this blog post for awhile now for the following reasons:
1) First off, because I thought of the title: "Feeling Called to a Season of Floor Hockey" and it made me laugh...
2) Because I wanted to share how God uses EVERYTHING we go through to teach and mold us.
3) And because I recently learned a new appreciation for anyone who is a COACH or a TEACHER. You are AMAZING!!!
It all started when my husband (big hockey fan & player) got the itch to sign up our 4 year old for hockey. It didn't look like the "Pee Wee Floor Hockey" program was going to run, though, with everything going on with the pandemic, etc. To be honest, we completely forgot all about it until the day it was supposed to start.
Literally the day of, my husband called the program supervisor to see if the program would be running and the guy said: "Yeah! It starts tonight and we have YOU down to coach it! There's about 16 kids signed up!" My husband was like, "Uhh, okay! See ya tonight!"
Right away, he started going into "Mighty Ducks" mode. He was getting SUPER pumped to coach these kids. Started getting his game plan together...
He had BIG expectations for himself for his coaching debut. He takes hockey very seriously... and he is seriously talented if I may say so myself.
As you can probably imagine, though, we learned some hard lessons on night 1 of Floor Hockey: 1) Coaching that many 4 year old's comes with some challenges. 2) Without clear structure to the program, there was a chance it could turn into "chaos control". 3) He was definitely going to need some back-up. And a whistle.
Thankfully, another dad stepped into volunteer as well and help out. And thankfully, Amazon has plenty of whistles so we got that part covered, too. But I could tell right away that the program was going to need an extra level of structure in order for the pre-schooler's to be successful each week. So leading up to Week 2, I asked my husband what he thought about me jumping in to help as well in order to add that "Pre-School Teacher Voice" to the mix. For example: "Okay, everyone! Listen to Coach Jon! Line up single file! Remember our rule from last week? No high sticking! Safety first!" And he agreed... especially since having 15 energetic four year old's running around with hockey sticks was a little nerve-racking and we wanted to keep everyone safe.
From week to week, we came with a game plan and worked as a team. And I learned a true appreciation for what it takes to be a COACH. It's definitely NOT easy!!! But how amazingly rewarding it is to inspire, encourage, and serve as a role model for others. And we were only doing this for a season, but it gave me a new appreciation for anyone who is a teacher or coach as a profession. It's incredible how you humble yourself in order to lift others UP! How people look to you as an example and mentor. So beautiful and admirable!!! This experience also just really got me thinking in general about anyone who falls into the category of "Community Helper"- like you are doing your part in your community to help others. You are showing up day by day to serve or help people in some way. I just don't think we tell people "THANK YOU" enough. You are truly an everyday hero!!!
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