Camp Blackberry 2021

It’s that time of year again. Time for Camp Blackberry! We missed it last year over Covid concerns. This year is an abbreviated version for a variety of reasons.

What is Camp Blackberry, you ask? It’s a week in the summer when we have our grandchildren. We hike, swim, bike, do crafts, eat, sleep, and play. We take excursions like the Knoxville Zoo (thank you Mr. Phil) and the Chattanooga Aquarium.

It’s called Camp Blackberry because, well, our name is Black and we raise blackberries so it just seemed logical. We have a camp t-shirt and a logo. We have seven grandchildren but only six can attend. We’re not quite ready for the 18 month old.

We got the idea from Dr. Bob and Sue Ramger, who ran Camp Ramger for many years. I’ve heard from their now grown grandchildren about the memories that were built.

This is the 8^th rendition of CB and it’s a little different. We’ve been at Fall Creek Falls State Park, something we planned to do last year. With vacations limited and our family beach trip cancelled, we wanted to get away for a few days.

It’s a wonderful time and we look forward to it each summer. We are already planning for next year. But where I want to go today is about the role of the grandparent.

I didn’t know but one of my grandparents. My maternal grandmother is the only one that I knew and she died when I was seven. Despite that, I have indelible memories of this proud, statuesque woman. My own children knew all four of their grandparents but not for long enough. Grandparents are important. Not essential, but important.

Grandparents are the ones that get to be concerned only about your happiness. Parents don’t really get to do that. Parents have to worry about grades and performance and behavior and all those sorts of things.

Parents have to worry about getting to practice on time and the character of friends. Parents have to make sure that you are doing your chores, getting what you need to eat, and getting enough sleep. Most of the time, grandparents just get to do the easy stuff, the fun stuff.

I will quickly admit that when I attend the games that my grandchildren play, I’m more interested in it being a positive experience for them. I don’t worry about anything else but that. Are they happy? Are they having fun?

I don’t remember either of those being a high priority when my own kids played sports. I was more interested in hustle and performance. When GK6 was playing t-ball and was told to run for home from third base, I loved that he turned toward the dugout and began looking for his parents (I assume to go home). His parents may not have been as amused by that as I was.

And the officiating….oh my, the officiating. It’s got a lot better since my own kids played. A LOT better. As a grandparent, I worry far less that we just saw a foul or a hand ball. I don’t think twice if someone is offsides or in the lane.

I get that liberty because I have the perspective of old age and thousands of hours of experience. I’m given great latitude to simply enjoy the games because I know that in the big picture, whether one of them wins a championship at age 9 or not will have absolutely no bearing on their ultimate athletic success.

I’m not interested in their team going undefeated or winning the league championship. I’m more interested in knowing that they’re moving, getting better, learning the game. And being happy. As a grandparent, THAT gets to be my first priority.

It's not too late

Now is the time. Yeah, I know…school just got out. But if you aren’t preparing for the upcoming season, then you are already behind.

Oh, there’s time, but don’t waste it.   Every athlete should be running, jumping, lifting weights, practicing their skills. You can’t wait until the season starts.

Actually, you should have your base of fitness already. Your season will be here before you can turn around. Now is the time to fine tune things.

Work on your jump shot. Your free throws. Spend some time on quickness and agility.

Time in the weight room will help you kick harder, farther, more accurately. Especially when fatigue is a factor.

Mileage is important but speed work is too. Everyone is a mix of slow twitch and fast twitch fibers.  You need to work on both to be the best that you can be.

Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” He was talking about fire prevention in early Philadelphia but it readily addresses health care today. 

Let’s start with overall fitness. We know that more injuries occur when you are fatigued. Think about the last run of the day on the ski slope. The 4th quarter. A track meet and you’re in your last event.

You don’t have to run a marathon (26+ miles) already to run a marathon but you do have to put in the mileage beforehand.  You can’t run a mile and then the next day run 10. Or at least you shouldn’t.

Fatigue may not make cowards of us all but it does make us more susceptible to injuries. You can over-do anything but you almost cannot be too fit.

What does that mean? Our endurance is high. Our muscles are well trained for the task at hand. We are flexible.

I’m not going to blame every hamstring injury on flexibility issues but I there is no doubt in my mind that you can reduce the incidence and severity of a hamstring strain by being more flexibler. Same thing for the Achilles.

Hear this clearly—stretching does not mean a few toe touches and arm swings before your workout. First off, stretching should be done at the END of a workout, not at the beginning. And the flexibility work should be approached like the rest of the workout—well thought out and thorough.

Pat Summit’s Athletic Trainer Jenny Moshak had it right. The Lady Vols would meet on the floor after every practice and game and dedicate time to stretching. You should learn from that.

Two more really important components of training as you prepare for the season are jump training and work on your core. We know that jump training helps to prevent ACL injuries. There is no doubt.

How your foot hits the ground is part of that. You should have that assessed by a professional.

I can never preach too much about how important your core is. Strengthening the hip is another huge component to preventing ACL injuries. The rotators of the hip help to control action at the knee when your foot is on the ground, whether from landing or cutting.

Don’t know what to do? There are good professional trainers out there. Look for one that asks you lots of questions, does a physical assessment of you, and sees the big picture.

Then get to work. Time’s a-wasting.

Hurt or Injured?

"It’s not broken, just fractured.” I’ve heard that one many times, usually as a signal that the person believes that the injury isn’t as bad as it could be.

OK…I’m going to start with that one. Broken, fractured, they mean the same thing. It’s not like horseshoes or hand grenades—a bone is either broken or it is not. A stress fracture is still a break in the bone. Maybe it only goes through part of the bone but it is still broken. That one is easy.

“Is it hurt or injured?” That one is much more difficult to define. I have heard coaches for years tell their players that they need to decide if something is “hurt” or “injured.” The clear implication is that if something is simply “hurt,” that they can play through it. There is some truth in that. There are a lot of hurts in sports participation.

“Hurt” may be exercise soreness from overdoing it. Overtraining, going too far or too fast, lifting too much or too often, all those can result in pain.

Usually those will go away with a little time and refraining from doing whatever it is that got you there. Most people seem to know what they did and when they did it if it has created pain.

Sore feet from running a lot further than usual. Sore shoulder from throwing too many times. Sore knees from running all those steps.

“Injured” implies damage to tissues.  While usually associated with a specific injury, it doesn’t have to be. In other words, you may not know what you did but damage is done.

It’s easy when you turn your ankle and it hurts on the outside of your ankle. You probably know what you did. And maybe you know pretty much what to do (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) but you might need help in deciding when that ankle is ready to go. That’s where you might need help. More on that in a minute.

Same with knees. If you injure your knee, you usually know when and how. Remember those bits of information—they will become important in deciding how bad it is and what is damaged.

Knees that always hurt and the pain lasts for several days? Something is wrong and you need to get checked. Weightbearing hurts your knee? Get it checked. Something is wrong.

Shoulders can be really complicated. If you pitch a full game (or have a high pitch count), you can expect your shoulder to be sore. Is it injured? Probably not. But you need to take care of it. That means ice on that shoulder within minutes of your last pitch. You can’t wait until you get home and finally find the ice bag. You need to have ice in the dugout and something to hold it on. And you definitely don’t need to cover up the pain with ibuprofen.

If it hurts the next day, something may be wrong. Any pain that just won’t go away needs to be checked.

A lot of people have chronic shoulder pain (LOTS of people). Our world today puts lots of stress on our shoulders. Much of what we do is in front of us. Sitting at a computer is a huge culprit in the development of chronic shoulder problems. I spend a lot of my professional time dealing with those.

But athletes with chronic shoulder pain need to have it checked out. It doesn’t mean that they can’t continue to play their sport. It may just mean that they need to prepare for the sport differently, to do things differently.

That’s where the Athletic Trainer comes in. Athletic Trainers are trained in all this. Athletic Trainers can help decide if it is “hurt” or “injured.” And here’s the good news:  All our schools have Athletic Trainers. All of them.

My final advice—use those Athletic Trainers. They are not there to keep you out of the game but to keep you IN the game.

 

Over 45? Get Screened for Colon Cancer

Vince Lombardi. Darryl Strawberry. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Ken Stabler. Tom Lehman. All have one thing in common:  They’re all sports stars that have had colon cancer.

Dr. Ed Brown is retiring this summer. In case you don’t know Dr. Brown, he’s a gastroenterologist that has served this community long and well.

I got to know Dr. Brown almost 28 years ago, when I showed up in his office. You see, I had a grandmother and an aunt that died of colon cancer. And my mom had colon cancer.

So, at age 40, I showed up at Dr. Brown’s office to schedule my first colonoscopy.

Let me tell you about a colonoscopy (without getting too graphic). First of all, you’re asleep, so it is painless and not cringe-worthy.. Using a flexible tube with a light and a camera at the end, the gastroenterologist examines your colon.

That’s it. You wake up, go get something to eat, and go home. Any suspicious places (usually a thing called polyps) are removed and sent to pathology. A few days later you get a report from the pathologist.

I didn’t mention the hard part. The day before the procedure, you can only have clear liquids (my clear liquid of choice was hot lemon Jello) and then at the end of that day, you take medicine to…shall we say…clean you out.

And it does a good job of it. The next morning, you head in for the colonoscopy and meet some really nice folks that do this sort of thing every day. I met a really nice Nurse Anaesthetist named Bill who was thorough and personable (but Propafol keeps me from remembering his last name).

Dr. Brown is a quiet, very professional physician with enough wry sense of humor to keep the whole process in perspective. When he called me this week with the pathology report, I thanked him for his many years of excellent care.

Here’s the good news—colon cancer, found early, is 100% treatable. That’s where the colonoscopy comes in. That’s how you find it early.

Who should consider screening for colonoscopy? All men and women over 40. Period.

But beyond that, what are signs that there could be a problem?  Unexplained changes in bowel habits. Blood in their stool. Unexplained weight loss, chronic constipation, or diarrhea.

Anyone with a family history of colon cancer should get screened. The screening may be as simple as a medical exam and a laboratory test.

Should everyone get a colonoscopy?  That’s for your doctor and you to decide The American Cancer Society recommends that anyone with a family history should begin getting colonostomies at age 45. For some, at higher risk, sooner than that.

As for me, I depend on my gastroenterologist to keep me healthy and so, I will do whatever they tell me to. Dr. Brown is retiring but I have great confidence in one of his young colleagues, Dr. Isaac Cline, who I’ve known since he was nine or ten.

And I’m counting on Dr. Cline keeping me safe from colon cancer for many years to come.

Parents Say the Darndest Things

There aren’t many of you that remember the old Art Linkletter television show.  It’s so old, I think it was only done in black & white.  He had a segment on the show called “Kids Say The Darndest Things.”

It was later recreated a couple of times but the original was what I grew up on. On the show, Art Linkletter would subtly lead kids into saying what was really on their minds. And you know kids—they sometimes have no filters.

What resulted from Art Linkletter’s somewhat innocent questions was often hilarious. Parents of athletes sometimes say the darndest things too. Some are funny, some are sad.

“They just got lucky.” One team scores and the coach/parent yells, “they just got lucky.” Maybe on some level that coach/parent is being positive but I think not.

It clearly implies that the other team is not really good enough to score without the benefit of luck. That their skills mean nothing.

I’ve heard people say “I’d rather be lucky than good.” Not me. I’d rather be good. Every time. I’ve also heard it said that “luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” I like that.

“Hit somebody.” That one always strikes me as funny.  Hit somebody! OK, who? Shouldn’t you be more specific? Is it OK if I hit somebody on my own team? They’re “somebody” aren’t they?

I guess “strike hard against someone on the opposing team” just wouldn’t work. By the time you get it out of your mouth, the play is over.

“Keep your eye on the ball.” I’ve been guilty of that one. I’ve probably said it a million times. The idea is to watch the ball all the way to your bat or to your racket and, in doing so, make better contact. It isn’t quite that easy.

Early on, it is important to keep your eye on the ball. Through repetition, the bat or the racket becomes an extension of your hands. That’s where you want to get to.

You can’t tell me that major league hitters see the ball all the way to the bat. MLB fastballs are just moving to fast. But thousands of repetitions establish a muscle memory to where it isn’t necessary.

“They just got their bell wrung. It’s football.” I still hear that one, even in today’s world of concussion awareness. Sure, that’s the way we used to approach things. We know better now.

And once you know better, you can never go back. You can never ignore the potential or the possibility of a concussion.

“Get in the hole!” It’s a golf thing. I’m not sure but I don’t think golf balls have ears. And from my limited experience, they don’t take orders. From anybody. Yet, I would have been yelling for Phil Mickelson’s putts to “get in the hole.”

“You hit like a girl.” Oh don’t get me started on that one. The other one in this category is that you “throw like a girl.” Those parents need to get a clue. Or a girl.

I’m as competitive as the next person but I don’t believe in cheering when somebody misses a free throw. That’s just wrong. Unless it means that your team wins the game. Then you’re cheering the win, not the miss.

I try and imagine what it is like to be the kid on the losing team or the kid that strikes out or the kid that keeps trying and trying and trying. And then I choose my words carefully.

Application for being a Good Parent of an Athlete

Glad you asked. It helps if you know what it takes. Can’t apply for a job unless you know the job description.

It’s easy if you want to be the parent of a GOOD ATHLETE.  It starts with their gene pool. You are directly responsible for that. Not there? That’s OK. You have done all you could do in that category when you birthed them. What’s done is done.

No amount of position coaching, personal training, or going to every sports camp in the country can overcome a bad gene pool. It just doesn’t happen.

But anybody can be a GOOD PARENT of an athlete. That doesn’t take nearly as much.

What does it take?  You can’t be their coach. This coming from someone that coached everything, including the first soccer game he ever saw.

Oh, you can get them started. Youth sports are dependent on parent coaches. You might teach them how to run or throw but you’ve got to realize when it’s time to turn them over to someone else. And assume it’s earlier than you think it will be.

I’ve told the story before of one day when I was sitting at home with my son after high school football practice. I was telling him what he did wrong, maybe what he did right. Keep in mind that I know something about football. I played football. I coached football. I’ve been around football almost my entire life. I felt qualified.

He stopped me and said “Dad, I only have one dad, I’ve got nine coaches.” I got the message.

If you are a Helicopter Pilot, you are automatically disqualified from this job. You can’t hover. You can’t try and control things. I guess you can try but it won’t work.

And if you think you can be a referee/umpire/judge from the stands, you’re also automatically disqualified.

Keep in mind that the younger the athlete, the less skilled the game official. At the youngest levels, they do it for the love of the game and/or for the love of the kids. At the highest levels, they still make mistakes.

Something I can tell you with absolute certainty—if you don’t have a child in the game, the officiating is much, much better.

As a grandparent, I find that the quality of the officiating just doesn’t matter. I can see their mistakes and accept them. I can see that they’re doing their best. In watching a ton of grandkid games, I can honestly say that I’ve never seen an official that favored one team or another.

Pet Peeve Alert:  If a player from the other team misses a shot, don’t cheer. Cheer success in youth sports, not failure.

The only thing that needs to be on this application is your commitment to support your child. Get them to practice on time. Cheer their successes. Console their mistakes. And never boo.

When your child gripes about the coach, don’t reinforce their gripe but help them understand the coach’s actions. Help them understand what they can do differently or better. And never ask the coach about playing time. 

What else is in the job description? Take your child out and hit, throw, kick, jump, run. Swim, paddle, bike. Spend time with them working on what the coach has been teaching them. You can’t play tennis?  Throw them balls and let them hit them. Can’t hit the broad side of a barn door on a basketball court? That’s OK…rebound for them—they get more repetitions that way. Have them pitch to spots. You don’t have to pitch—they do.

They will have more success on the courts and fields and you will live longer and be happier.

Enough of the old guy stuff!

What about the young folks in the room?” OK.  Fair enough. Same advice: Movement is everything.

Sir Isaac Newton figured it out a long time ago. A body in motion tends to stay in motion (unless acted on by outside forces). A body at rest tends to stay at rest.

This covers a whole lot of what I’ve been writing about for the past couple of months. The job is the same—being healthier. The basic concepts are the same. Move!

Active adults create active kids. That doesn’t mean to simply send your kids outside to play. Kids don’t have the same opportunities for “play” that you and I did. There is simply too much demand on their time. 

You are their role model. If your lifestyle is sedentary, theirs will be too. If you hit the couch and watch TV, they’ll hide in their room on some sort of electronic device too.

Playing everything when you’re young makes you a better athlete when you’re older. It’s all about learning to move. Run, throw, kick. Balance, coordination, understanding how your body moves.

That’s what will make your child a better athlete when it really counts. Those basic skills are the foundation for a life of sports performance.

No sport specialization until high school. Never.

Two of the most successful college football coaches in the country are Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and Alabama’s Nick Saban. A lot of people speculate about what makes these two very different coaches so successful. I happen to believe that what they have most in common is the ability to identify talent and then develop it.

And I guarantee you, they’re not looking at Little League games or AAU tournaments to identify talent. No one knows at 10 that your child is destined to stardom.

Ace pitcher at 12? Winning races at 10? Means little. Can they move their body? Can they control that movement? Means everything.

You can give your child only two things: Your gene pool and the love of a game. Yeah, that one was a couple of weeks ago. Give me a kid that is passionate about a sport and I’ll show you a kid that will be successful, at some level, in that sport.

Childhood obesity a problem?  Move! Juvenile onset Diabetes?  Move!

That has really gotten more difficult. When I was a kid, summers were filled with activity that we created on our own. I would leave the house in the morning on my bike with the only admonition being that I be home for supper.

That’s not the world we live in anymore. Play dates have to be manufactured. Sports participation is the main avenue for activity for a lot of kids. But what if sports just aren’t what works for your child? That puts it back on you, Mom and Dad.

Movement is life. Movement gives us life. Movement makes our life better.