Your other hobbies or passions

So I'm curious. We all obviously love and have a passion for music. But what else do you like to do?

There's TV, movies, video games, comic books, novels of course, but I mean something that isn't generally considered "entertainment".

For me it is basketball. Not playing it. I coach it. I've been coaching basketball in my town's youth league since I was 14 years old. I've done pretty much everything in the league.

I've been an assistant coach, a head coach, official scorekeeper, co-president, president, vice president, director of public relations (many of these all at the same time).

I write the league's newsletter and update the Facebook page.

I started off coaching boys and did that for many years, but in the last 5 years I've coached girls as well. And to be honest, I love coaching the girls more.

So much so, that this past winter season I gave up my boys team as a head coach and focused on my girls team. Sure I was an assistant with another boys team but I didn't have nearly the level of responsibility that comes with being the head coach.

I've taken my girls up to Boston College to see the women's team play, coached a team that we took to the Bay State Games (think the Massachusetts Olympics), and watched as many kids I've had a hand in coaching through the years went on to play at high school. Two years ago, the high school won their first ever state championship and 8 of the kids on the roster I coached at various points in their youth league days.

I'm running and coaching the summer league again this year. I've got a girls team and we are 3-2 so far this season.

And there have been successes. My teams have made 15 championship appearances winning 10 of them. My girls once won 21 games in a row and my boys once won 4 straight summer league titles.

And some of my players have come back to coach with me. I've had 5 of my boys players coach with me and one of my girls.

So that's my passion, what's yours?

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Permalink Reply by Scott on July 17, 2011 at 11:23pm

cool! Sounds like your a good coach as well!

For me theres a couple of things, I like boating, we get out as often as possible, time on the water with family is great quality time!

I love football, and though they have been down for a couple of years, I love my Carolina Panthers (I work across the street from the stadium) and have indulged in the coaching when my boys played as well, mostly as an assistant in the Boys and Girls club league. No champions but loads of fun!

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Permalink Reply by TageRyche on July 18, 2011 at 6:35am

Though I love the water, I'm more of a swimming guy not a boating guy. I get seasick on boats.

Nice to see someone else has coaching experience!

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Permalink Reply by RJhog (Admin) on July 18, 2011 at 7:52am

Unfortunately for me, I don't spend a lot of time doing anything else. But there are things I like. My 15 year old (about to be 16) has played baseball since he was 5 or 6. I've never coached because of not having enough time to devote to it. And truth be told, I'm not sure I would have wanted to. Not because of my son, but just from what I see from time to time with overbearing parents. And I know that's just occasional, most of the parents are top notch. Anyway, I did have to umpire a game this past season. And I found out quickly that it's a lot different on that side of the fence. The very first batter hit a ground ball to short and the play at first (my son was the first baseman) was bang-bang. It felt like it took me 5 minutes to call the runner safe. My son says I blew the call. He's probably right, as I was probably trying to not slant towards his team. But that's all of my umpiring experience, and it did teach me that guys and gals that get out and do this should be appreciated a little more.

I do like to ride my mountain bike through the woods as we have a couple of decent trails, but I don't go often enough. And thanks to my job offering a fitness/wellness program that just started, I'm now running about 3 miles a day, 3-4 days per week. I have plantar (I can't spell the other word, but basically my heels hurt most of the time), which has stopped me from running in recent years. But the program has inspired me to do it more carefully, taking smaller steps and keeping my feet near the ground, as well as stretching before and after running and putting my feet on ice afterwards, and they have responded much better. The reward is for accumulating 200 miles in a quarter, you get a paid day off. There are gift certificate prizes at lower mile levels, but I'm going for the day off.

I also love to watch football, but my beloved Alma Mater has been down for a year or two now (UGA). And I hate the Florida Gators and the Tennessee Volunteers.

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Permalink Reply by TageRyche on July 18, 2011 at 5:42pm

I'm a Volunteers fan but only for women's basketball.

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Permalink Reply by Gordon Williams on July 19, 2011 at 8:52pm

Great topic! My other passions, other than listening to music are:

Playing guitar...ok,ok,ok, I know its music, but its a different slant, aint it?? I no longer spend any real time at all on learning songs I like. I write my own music, and hope to be in a band again some day soon...but only playing original music. I dont want to play any more AC-DC, or Priest, or Sabbath, or Savatage...I wanna play my own tunes, and if they suck, well then, they suck!

I also love playing mens competitive tournament softball, in double elimination tournaments on the weekends. If the team plays poorly that day, you may only get 2 to 3 games before being eliminated. But when the team gets on a roll, you can play 5, 6, or more games in one day, depending on how many teams are in the tourney. At 52 years old, I absolutely love competing against young guys. I am most always the oldest fart on my team! I only have another year or two left doing this, as it absolutely will kill your body! Many weeks I am sore for days after.

I also enjoy walking...good exercise, but not too hard on your body. If you can walk, or hike, in a scenic area, then its just "icing on the cake".

Note to TageRyche...its great that you give so much of yourself, and your time, to kids! Kids are awesome to be around, and if you teach them sports, sportsmanship, teamwork, controlling your emotions, etc. then you are helping to shape them into better citizens!

Note to RJHog...I had Plantar Fasciatias (spelling wrong I'm sure), about 10 years ago, and it was horrible, crippling pain, especially if you "pushed" yourself, and stayed active anyway. I finally bought a pair of specially desinged shoe inserts through a foot doctor. I cant for the life of me remember what they were called technically, but they took a mold of my foot, and desinged the insert to specifically help me with my problem. They were very expensive, over $200 even back then, but they were worth every penny, many times over. I wore them everytime I was active until they wore out, and the pain has never returned! Check into them, and you will be glad you did!