NEU » eft to look inward once more, Brazilians wil

When I was a kid, my mum coached our netball team. Shed never played, and taught herself the rules with a tattered paperback shed borrowed from the library. She only signed up because nobody else would. At first I was proud she was so committed to my sporting life that shed coach a game shed never played. But that soon changed.Some days it was the best having her around. She was funny and kind and the other girls loved her. But some days I hated how being the coachs daughter made me stand apart. Plus, her obsession with fairness meant I rarely played the position I wanted, lest it be seen as favoritism. And I could forget ever winning most valuable player.So when my daughter started a netball team and they needed a coach, I fled. The last thing I wanted was for my daughter to feel as confused as Id felt as a teenager. My feelings about all that changed quickly.My mum, whod been fighting?cancer for 18 months, died. Suddenly, my rock, someone Id relied on, was gone. That hit home when I undertook the wrenching task of sorting through her possessions and a million memories surfaced. Among them, a photograph?of her and I taken on the day we won our first netball championship back in 1982. I was 12, tall and slim with a long ponytail and a grin from ear to ear. Mum was next to me, wearing a grin equal to my own. I hadnt seen that photo for a long time. And it rocked me. It made me realize that I wasnt just grieving my mums death, I was grieving the loss of being a child.With her gone, nobody knew when my first tooth had fallen out, or how I cried after my boyfriend dumped me. That part of my history was lost. I ached for some connection to it. I hoped that maybe if I could coach like she had, some link to my past would still live.At the first few training sessions I was terrified. The kids were learning the game, I was learning how to coach, and somewhere a ghost of my mum hovered on the sidelines smiling at the whole catastrophe. When my daughter flashed a look of fury my way during a game, I realized we needed some ground rules. I agreed that fairness meant letting her play the position she liked as often as the rest of the girls, and she agreed not to think she could get away with stuff just because we were related.Coaching was something I took on for personal reasons, to try to be close to a mum who was no longer here. I never expected to actually enjoy it. Three years in, I have discovered more about myself than I thought possible.Ive rediscovered a love of netball and now play again in an adult team. Ive uncovered a love of teaching and most weeks look forward to training nights when I can help the girls to learn new skills and strive to improve. And Ive realized that mum never coached to learn about netball, or to help us win championships. She coached to be close to me and show she cared. Even if Im not the greatest coach in the world, thats exactly why Im doing it too.Thats what I lost when she died. Not my childhood memories or a connection to my past, but someone to teach me how to be a mother. Perhaps by finding that photograph my mums parenting choices and style have found a way to live on. Just like netball gave mum and I the way to share belonging to a team, I now get to share my daughters special world. It also gives me rare insight into her friendships and closeness with her friends that I wouldnt otherwise have.They call me (affectionately, I hope) the hugger, because so often with a tween-aged team of 10 girls, there are tears. Someone is always feeling something strongly, and more often than not my role is to sit, listen and counsel. I not only coach them netball skills but also friendship skills.When mum died an old friend that I hadnt seen in many years contacted me via email. She told me how jealous shed been of my relationship with my mum when she was a teenager, because my mum was one of those involved mums who was always there, and always approachable. I think coaching did that.At the time I never noticed, but now that Im in the same boat, I see how lucky I am. Granted my daughter doesnt always like that Im her coach, but sometimes she does, and for now, those rare times are enough. Hopefully when shes grown up and Im gone, shell look back as fondly as I do and maybe coach her daughters team too.Nova Weetman lives in Melbourne, Australia. She writes childrens books and writes childrens television shows, and she loves the game of netball.Randy White Youth Jersey . - Goaltender Philippe Desrosiers of the Rimouski Oceanic has broken a shutout record that was only three months old in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Trysten Hill Jersey . -- When the Florida Panthers fell behind by two goals in the first period to the top team in the NHL, it appeared they were on their way to yet another loss. https://www.cowboyssportsgoods.com/Womens-Jason-Witten-Inverted-Jersey/ .C. Lions has come to an end. Banks told TSN on Jan 2 that he had no interest in playing out the option year of his contract with the Lions in 2014, and he again made that clear in a conversation with Lions GM Wally Buono last week. Taco Charlton Womens Jersey . Brandon Morrow allowed five runs on six hits over three innings. He struck out two, walked one and hit a batter. Edwin Encarnacion had a two-out, bases loaded two-RBI double in the third inning. Roger Staubach Womens Jersey . The Brazilian goalkeeper signed a loan deal with the Major League Soccer club on Friday as he looks to get playing time ahead of this summers World Cup in his home country.RIO DE JANEIRO -- Remember this moment, Brazil. Nothing feels better than winning.Remember how it felt on that balmy Saturday night in this fabled temple of soccer, the Maracana, when the Selecao held its nerve through 120 minutes and a penalty shootout to gain some small measure of revenge against Germany.Remember, too, how Neymar, without doubt one of the five best players in the world, won it all.How he kissed the ball before the fifth penalty kick and how his teammate, the goalkeeper Weverton, retrieved it the moment after, then tucked it under his jersey for safekeeping, smiling widely.Beloved nation, the gold is ours, Weverton said, still holding the ball. Alongside, his teammates filled out the top step of the podium and sang the national anthem along with nearly 80,000 deliriously happy fans.This ball is mine, its part of history, Weverton added. With all due respect to everybody who has a beautiful history and tried for a long time, God put this generation in this position to make history, and we did.Remember this moment.Because it came at a cost.This is a nation that needs another sewage plant more than another trophy, a nation that hasnt paid its cops and firefighters and teachers for weeks.It cost $12 billion or so this cash-strapped land doesnt have.Its a legacy, all right, but cold comfort considering the way the real German national team humiliated Brazils best, 7-1, in the World Cup on home soil here just two years ago. Its bragging rights, too, at least until the 2018 World Cup rolls around and the promising kids who filled out both rosters Saturday night give way to the best players both countries can muster. The question of whos really the best will be answered soon enough.Until then, Brazil can claim to be back on top in soccer. But everything else here is in a state of flux. The economy is teetering; the president, Dilma Rousseff, is under impeachment. The interim president, Michel Temer, is so unpopular that hes already announced plans to skip the closing ceremony Sunday night -- apparently to avoid the lusty booing that greets him at nearly every public appearance.This restoress our self-esteem, Brazil coach Rogerio Micale said.dddddddddddd We see that not all was lost, our football is still alive. There are some things that need to be fixed, but today we were able to make our people happy. Im very happy to be able to be a part of this.There is no such thing in Brazil as caring too much about soccer. The game bestows pride and national identity. It carries an importance all out of proportion to any value that can be measured.People jumped out of windows after a historic loss to Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup inside this same stadium.The lingering pain from that 1950 loss bequeathed the Brazilian language a new word, Maracanazo. Roughly translated, it means the great Maracana blow. It has haunted Brazilians ever since. The great Pele once told a story about listening to the game on a radio at home and recalled it was the first time he saw his father cry.Brazils resolve is about to be tested like few times in its history. The World Cup and the Olympics were magnificent theater, but the tourists are heading for the exit and the show is about to end. Left to look inward once more, Brazilians will find themselves facing the same daunting economic and political challenges.Rousseffs impeachment trial begins later this month. No matter who ultimately winds up in charge, he or she can do little to reverse the sharp decline in the price of oil and the other commodities that fueled Brazils surging economy less than a decade ago. A nation that has learned only too well the meaning of sacrifice will be asked to be patient and tighten its belt yet again.Memories of Neymars golden goal will sustain his countrymen for as long the game retains the most special of places in their hearts. It wont help repair the damaged infrastructure, clean up the pollution or put food on the table.But for the moment, it will have to be enough.---Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke(at)ap.org and http://www.Twitter.com/JimLitke ' ' '