Keeping Promises to Ourselves

This past Friday school started back up for the kids. With that comes busy days trying to get them to school, typical busy work schedule, after school activities, sports, maybe even a family dinner if we are lucky. As schedules start to get a little crazier, sometimes my wife and I reflect and joke on…

Making Our Teammates Better

With school soon upon us our family took an adventure out to the city of Boston. As we explored the Freedom Trail it seemed there was a historically significant monument or site around every corner. The rich history of where so much of the U.S. was first fought for and shaped. While I appreciated the…

High Expectations

This past weekend the USA men’s and women’s teams rose to expectations and stood atop the medal stand with gold shining bright. To many that follow international basketball, the heavy favorites were both the star-studded USA women’s team with the best of the WNBA along with the iconic roster of NBA greats on the USA…

Developing our Emotional Intelligence

In the middle of summer, the last thing my family is thinking about is finding access to coats for the cold Midwest winter ahead. That’s because we’re a family fortunate enough to be able to afford coats, gloves, hats, and everything else we need for the blister cold days. This past Saturday was a good…

Overcoaching

One of my favorite parts of the warm weather is heading to the local playground with my son to play basketball. Whether it’s a game of knockout, H-O-R-S-E, or 1 on 1, my kid comes ready to beat up on dad. While this is technically off season, I’ve found I occasionally slip into coach mode…

Watching Miracle

I love summer Olympic time. It’s story after story of amazing athletes and their perseverance, dedication, and ridiculous work ethic.  The other night our family was in the mood for a movie night. My wife had a great suggestion – Miracle. What better way to get in the Olympic mood then reliving one of the greatest U.S.…

World of Instant Gratification

I recently was listening to a book by the famous sports broadcaster, Al Michaels, on Audible called You Can’t Make This Up. It’s a fascinating exploration of his career and the rollercoaster ride of broadcasting (including his famous ‘Do you believe in miracles’ caption in 1980 Olympics). One interesting discussion Al had was on the…

Wavy Ride

This past weekend my family took a long weekend trip to Madison, WI. One of our favorite parts of the trip was a beautiful day on the lake enjoying the beach and kayaking. The lake was ours to explore, my wife and daughter in one kayak and my son and I teamed up in the…

Pursuit of Happiness

How would you describe your pursuit of happiness? The Declaration of Independence was written nearly 250 years ago and spoke of one of the most important rights we all should have, the pursuit of happiness. What does that mean though to pursue happiness? If we were to compile the answers to the first question I…

Bouncing Back from Frustration

We all deal with it. Either we are in a bad mood, and something doesn’t go our way and we become frustrated. Or we have a certain set of expectations, and they aren’t met so frustration follows. It’s never a matter of if but a matter of when frustration will settle in. How long we…