Despite the weather, there’s no ignoring the fact that summer is just around the bend. This might be a “wet” summer for us here in Cebu but my children have been counting the remaining school days. They are already looking forward to summer.
My 13-old daughter is the most eager. Last Sunday I saw her in front of the calendar counting the days. Then she went to her room, pulled out her kimono and put them on the dumpster for laundry.
She said she has been missing the dojo. What she has been missing are the Aikido practices they used to have during weekdays. But after grade school, their schedule wouldn’t allow them to practice, thus the summer practices. Since I enrolled my children to Aikido some years ago, they have been looking forward to going back to the dojo every summer. This means that I’ll soon be back to my duties as the family driver.
I’m glad that my children are into Aikido. The sport has taught them discipline among many other things. Personally, I would rather see them in the dojo than sit in front of the computer playing computer games or watching TV and arguing about what channel to watch.
While we are at it, parents could enroll their children into a number of sports this summer. There are at least two basketball clinics that will start at the end of the month. I think there are also some “learn-how-to-swim” programs around and many summer training in football, volleyball, taekwondo, etc.
There’s a tendency, for parents, however, to think that after putting children into sports, then that’s it. I hope parents don’t fall into this trap. Parents must be always there to lend a hand. I recalled how excited I was when my children were preparing for their first belting exams. I was pestering them to review and review the techniques they have been practicing at home. During the exam day, I excited sat and watched as my children took turns demonstrating a technique or two that their sensei asked them to perform.
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Before I forget, the youth in our sitio have started to clean our dirt court. Like my children, they are also looking forward to a summer of sports. Two summers ago, we held a three-on-three tournament in that dirt court with the help of my friends in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. With a little sum, we were able to purchase some jerseys.
At first, the games were dull as the players were content in just playing but then during the semis and championship series, we had four games that went into OTs. At game time, we have almost all the sitio watch the games.
We bought trophies and medals with what was left of the donation and held a simple awards ceremony at the end of the tournament.
What was special about this tournament? We did it with the total participation of the youth. After drafting the ground rules, it was their show. They printed their uniforms, selected referees from among themselves, formed the table officials, etc. At the end of the day, we had a successful tournament.
(For comments, kindly e-mail the writer at rabai_o@yahoo.com.)