Why? Ability and effort

My grandson missed 6 months of activity beginning last July. He broke his arm at basketball summer camp and re-broke it at the World Series Baseball tournament at St. Louis. He was working out with his football team with his arm in a cast and began to have a knee problem that was diagnosed as a fragmented knee cartilage. The result was 2 months in a full leg cast.
Now we come to this fall and Washburn Rural seventh grade football. They had 80 some boys out for the team. They would have an A and B team . They had a lot of big, athletic kids out and my grandson, weighing 98 pound was one of the smallest. He had not played any football for a year.
The team has many players from feeder teams, boys who have played tackle football for 4 years. Now having spent 38 years in coaching allowed me to advise my grandson of one distinct thing. In order to make the team, "you have to be noticed". Run faster, hit harder and play harder than anyone else." Now it should be said that my grandson is a gifted athlete, fast, quick, and not afraid to hit. He was one of the smallest players on the team but now he is the smallest player on the A team. He was picked as a slot back on the A team and was the starting safety in the first game(they won 24-0). Washburn Rural is one of the biggest schools in the state, average class size of 400 plus. The odds of making a team are small and this was a tremendous accomplishment. We are very proud. You need to understand that my advise carries over to all of life. The world is a tough place, and sports help players to understand what is needed to be successful. In a sense for all of your life, you need to "run faster, hit harder and play harder than anyone else". It is a life lesson.

Why? Things that are Bigger Than Me?

A musing. Things that are bigger than me. From the infinite to the ultimate. An atom, building block of the universe and the power of E=MC2. The universe, a vastness beyond human comprehension. Ideas, the power of the mind to comprehend, question, debate and create. Family, a force of attraction for good or evil. Nature, the ugliness of "eat or be eaten", an earthquake, the power of the ocean, and the beauty of sound and color. "The Greatest Game EverPlayed". Clint Eastwood. Nationalism. Fear. Love. History. And through it all, the power ideas. I am so small, but grateful for it all.