#Get a Grip Newsletter, #4
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Happy summer, everyone!
I don't know about you, but our summer is flying by! I really want things to slow down. I just had my youngest son get his driver's license. Those of you in Southern California, don't say I didn't warn you!
The best part about Tommy getting his license, is that I no longer have to teach a child to drive...ever again! Teaching a child to drive has to be the most stressful thing ever.! And, not only for the parent. My boys have now heard me shriek, yell, swear, and pray in every octave. Now, I just get to sit back, relax, and pay the insurance bill. YIKES!
Enjoy your last few days of July and stay cool!
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Staying hydrated during the summer playing season is not easy. We all know it is tough to perform well when dehydrated, but more importantly, it can prevent heat illness and heat exhaustion.
In my tennis career, I had to train and compete in all types of heat. I grew up playing tennis in Central California with very dry heat. During practice and matches, we would change sides, and there would be a sprinkling of white salt on my arms and legs. Many of our nationals were in the hot and humid south, where we were drenched in sweat before the match even started. Oh, and yes, you had two singles and a doubles match each day for an entire week. Fun Stuff! Move on to the WTA Tour, and we have seen how players can struggle in Australia and Asia.
When I think back to competing in the heat, it isn’t the dry heat in Melbourne that would get me; it was the incredible humidity in Asia. For many years, I played a tournament in Pattaya, Thailand, where we started matches at 7 pm due to the heat. My first time there, I went into the training room before practice, to see a scale and two IVs right next to the training table. The trainer saw my surprise and very casually said, “the scale is to weigh you before, and after each time you go on the court, practices, and matches. Over there is a sign-in sheet to help you keep track of how much water weight you sweat out per workout.” Ok, so what about the IV poles? “Oh, those are for when you get so dehydrated, you can’t drink enough to hydrate, so we have to use the IV.” Ok, I was 19 years old, traveling without a parent or a coach, in a village outside of Bangkok, and I was darn sure I wasn’t going to get dehydrated and need an IV this week! In Melbourne during the Australian Open, that is a spa day compared to this.
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FROM MY DESK
On Pigeon Patrol, Rufus the Hawk Rules the Skies Over Wimbledon
The famed hawk keeps pigeons at bay so the courts and the players can remain … clean.
Director of Admission Shares the Truth About College Essays.
On Its 50th Anniversary, How The Special Olympics Has Ignited A Revolution For Inclusion And Unity
Is Chase Budinger the Future of Men’s Beach Volleyball?
Budinger isn’t the first N.B.A. retiree to succeed in beach volleyball. But the former forward might have the skills to become an Olympian.
In 2003, an 8-year-old Rose Lavelle dressed as Mia Hamm for a third-grade book project.
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YOU ASKED!
Earlier this summer, a parent asked me, "How do I stop the travel for my child's tennis from becoming a grind?"
As we all know, all parenting can become a grind, and there is no getting around the fact that parents sacrifice A LOT for their children's passions. We sacrifice finances, personal time, family time, and other "fun" travel. I know my parents spent a lot of vacation time and money, grinding it out with junior tennis travel.
Here are a few ideas to try to avoid things becoming a grind:
- Take time for yourself while on the road. Go for a run, find a yoga class, or get out to see the sights.
- Make friends with other parents. Being on the road can get lonely for everyone, and no one understands the lifestyle challenges of the sport more than your fellow parents.
- Take an online class. Speaking as someone addicted to continued education, I enjoy learning new things, and with classes being online, you can take them everywhere.
- Just say "no" when it gets to be too much. Having our children learn there are boundaries and limits to what we can do is a good thing.
- Take advantage of what the city has to offer with your child. Take the time to see and enjoy the city. I always tried to see something new every time I went back to a city year after year.
Read an article on how Pat Sloane traveled with her daughter, Susan Sloane, former WTA player with a career high ranking of #18.
CLICK HERE.
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#GET A GRIP BOOKSHELF
“How to Raise an Adult” explores the things parents do that result in overparenting, the reasons overparenting needs to stop, the case for parenting another way and a challenge to parents to dare to parent differently.
A couple of years ago, I was fortunate to hear Julie Lythcott-Haims, a former Freshman Dean at Stanford, speak at my boy’s school. Wow! What an evening! What a dynamic speaker! And a somewhat terrifying message to all of us, who fall into the trap of overparenting.
She opened with this monologue on our children applying for college…
"It isn’t just the right grades but the right grades from the right school and the right APs, and the right test scores with the right test prep, and don’t forget the essay prep, and not just the sports teams but the right club team, with the right sport coaching, not just helping your community but the right community service, and the right amount of hours, oh, and how have you saved the world?" This is only a quarter of the opening monologue. I was too shell-shocked to remember all of it. Needless to say… she had our attention.
She had spent the afternoon with our high school students and gave us parents some feedback. Here were her words:
I just had an amazing sesh with the 9-12th graders where the kids told me to tell parents: "Prioritize mental health over achievement; widen your college range; don't ask so many questions about my school life - I have it under control; stop comparing me to my peers; and don't interrupt when we're answering questions about our day." From the mouths of babes folks - the wisdom pours out.
This book is a must-read for parents in today's environment. There are a lot of takeaways, but the one that hit home to me, and my type-A personality, was this quote:
"Many of us parents, particularly us moms, are “doing parenting” the way we did college, perhaps grad school, and, if we chose it, the world of work, that is, throwing ourselves at it full bore, running the PTA or soccer snack schedule the way we ran our student groups or corporate meetings, leaning in to our kids’ lives as if they are the metrics and deliverables of our little private corporation. How our kids look, what they eat, how they dress, what activities they pursue, what they achieve have become reflections of us. Of how we see ourselves. Like their life is our accomplishment. Like their failures are our fault. Many of us derive a sense of self and purpose in life from the way our children dance the dance, swing the bat, or take the test."
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MEANINGFUL MEALS
This issue's
Meaningful Meals
conversation starter:
"In what ways are you generous?"
This issue's
Meaningful Meals
recipe:
One of my favorite summer foods, especially on the hot days, is a great bowl of Gazpacho. You can control how chunky (my kids won't do chunky) you like the soup with the immersion blender.
There are a lot of great Gazpacho recipes out there but my all time favorite is the Gazpacho de Los Angeles. If you find the "Best Recipes" from the Los Angeles Times Cookbook, it is on page 28.
Ingredients:
1 (46-ounce) can tomato juice
1 medium green pepper
1 small onion, minced
1 cucumber, peeled
2 small canned green chilies, minced
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon chopped chives
1 teaspoon herb-seasoning blend
2 drops hot pepper sauce
Salt, white pepper, to taste
Lemon wedges, for garnish
Instructions:
Combine all ingredients except lemon wedges. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill thoroughly, can be overnight.
Note: For smoother gazpacho served with vegetable garnishes, use an immersion blender into mixture until desired smooth consistency. Serve with additional diced cucumber, green pepper, and croutons.
Makes 6 to 8 servings. Garnish with lemon wedges
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MAKE A DIFFERENCE
This issue of #Get a Grip, we are spotlighting
"TeachAids" a non-profit organization, providing free educational products, that I am just learning about from a lifelong family friend, Coach Dick Gould.
TeachAids,
"Health education reimagined for today's generation", is a world leader in designing, producing and distributing
FREE health education.
TeachAids’ latest health education initiative,
CrashCourse, educates youth on the prevention and treatment of concussions. CrashCourse is concussion education reimagined for today's generation, providing the latest medically-accurate information about the prevention and treatment of concussions.
Filmed in both Virtual Reality and HD, this interactive learning experience puts students on the field during a high school football game. It features Stanford University football players, including All-American Bryce Love, sharing the latest medical knowledge from the world’s leading concussion experts. The full CrashCourse product suite will be distributed to more than 10,000 schools and youth sports organizations around the nation.
1 IN 5 HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETES WILL GET A CONCUSSION, AND IT IS NOT JUST FOOTBALL!
More than 2.5 million young people suffer a concussion in the United States each year. With proper care, most concussions can heal within 10 days, but the overwhelming majority of students, parents, and coaches are unaware of the latest science about the prevention and treatment of concussions. If not treated properly, a concussion may have lasting physical, emotional, and cognitive effects.
TeachAids' list of impressive partnerships is growing rapidly. At the request of the US Olympic Committee, videos are being produced to educate Multi-Sport Youth Coaches, Multi-Sport High School Coaches, and a virtual reality Multi-Sport Athlete version, which has already been adopted for use in ALL public schools by the state of Arkansas.
All three of the above video courses with have links to:
- Symptoms Simulator
- Story Wall where 500+ Concussion sufferers tell their personal Concussion Stories
- "Fly through the wall of an actual human brain"!
USA Football just introduced an athlete’s FREE CrashCourse curriculum, with a short “test” leading to an immediate “Certification of Completion” – many High Schools are starting to use this as a means to insure their athletes have completed Concussion Education requirements.
Please take a minute to watch the
CrashCourse information video
with Steve Young and below is the full CrashCourse Football education video with the Stanford Football Team.
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I love meeting my readers. Please email me to ask a question and share your thoughts on #Get a Grip.
Do you have ideas for books, recipes, and organizations that we should share in a future newsletter?
If so, click here to email me!
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Thank you for reading!
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