At the age of 42 I often think that this is the age that things can go physically south or you can pull back the years and revisit your youth. I’m a father of three amazing kids, with a daughter age 9 and twins boys age 6. I’m fortunate because they all love sport and are forever playing outdoors with no shortage of competitive rivilary. Many of my friends have kids and I often observe they don’t really partake in their kids sporting activities. They may throw a ball to their child but will make little effort to chase after a stray ball.
I don’t often think of myself of being 42 years old because I’m always running around with my kids and doing everything from riding our bikes, jogging, playing cricket, rugby, and so the list goes on. Besides the quality family time one gets from being actively involved with my children I find that it keeps my skills and reflexes sharp, I can accelerate quickly from a stationary position, and of course I maintain my fitness.
I’m always saddened to see so many parents, who are exhausted from a work week, encourage their kids to watch TV or play a game console just so that they can laze around over the weekend. Don’t get me wrong, ‘me time’ is also important but not to the detriment of brushing off your kids and the opportunity to bond through sports.
What gets me the most is that the very same parents will stand on the side lines at a school sporting event and blame the coach when their kid and their team is not performing well. Where were they when little David needed someone to kick the ball to him, or teach him how to dribble?
Last year I made a special point of preparing my daughter, Jenna, for her athletics season. She’s a good runner and shows a lot of promise in sprinting, which is mainly the 80m and 100m events for her age group. The school athletics season kicks off from mid-January but we started training in September. Besides working on her technique, such as fast starts and body position, we would do a number of heats. When I mean “we”, l would go through the same motions and put myself through the same drills.
The point is that life passes us by really quickly and while your kids are young, and you are not getting any younger, use this beautiful moment in time to train with your kids and wind back the years.
John Westermeyer 