PlaysportsTV.com

So when I showed up for the mass of hysterical, screaming, running, jumping, and crazy children that was tee ball registration, I got a phone call at just the wrong time.  When the Park District rep, Mike, asked who wanted to help coach, the room went silent, but I was still talking on the phone — which he took as an affirmative.  All of the sudden, I was Coach Larry of the Green team.  Though I have played baseball for years, coaching kids in the fundamentals of the game was something I hadn’t a clue how to do.  Like math, I have forgotten more mechanics than I remember.  To the rescue came PlaysportsTV.com, a site that helps coach and train clueless coaches.

At its heart, PlaysportsTV.com commissions 2-3 minute videos on the major sports:  Football, Lacrosse, basketball, field hockey, baseball, soccer, softball, tennis, volleyball, wrestling, cheerleading, golf gymnastics, skateboarding, and Ultimate Frisbee.  The instructor usually has some pedigree that makes them credible to be teaching.  For instance, many of the baseball videos were taught by the head coach of Princeton University’s baseball team.

Since I knew there was going to be 14 parents at the next tee ball practice counting on me to make their kids into the next Ken Griffey, Jr, I really focused on the baseball section.  Each section has articles for more background on the sport and playlists.  Playlists are a collection of videos that the site administrators have grouped together as a collection like “Six Videos For Young Pitchers”.  All of the videos are free and they really stick to the 2 minute time frame.  You can watch about 10 videos in a half an hour and get a sense of what you need to know and how you might use it to instruct the kids.  Each video has a “Coaching Tip” at the bottom of the screen and cliff notes on the right so you can take notes or print the screen.

What really makes this site useful is that the videos are more than just the fundamentals.  You can probably get fundamentals from any “how to” book in the last 100 years since baseball has been around (and the Cubs have won a World Series).  But these videos teach you how to coach, more specifically, they teach you drills.  So instead of just teaching you how to catch grounders, it gives you ideas on drills and games you can do with the kids that help reinforce how to catch ground balls.  I need as much help as possible keeping the 4 and 5 year olds on my tee ball team engaged instead of playing in the mud, wearing their mitts on their heads, taking their shoes off, or hitting each other with bats.

There are thousands of videos on the site and the site is fairly well organized.  But to help you even more, they have developed Training Plans.  Currently they have Training Plans for baseball, girls softball, and lacrosse.  Training Plans cost $19.95 and are divided into age ranges.  I went into the 5-8 year old age range which is for tee ball and coach pitching leagues.  The Training Plan was broken down into throwing, catching, fielding, base running, and hitting. 

Each category is just filled with drills.  The throwing section has stuff like the balance drill, the knee drill, and the line drill which tries get the kids to actually step forward in a straight line (yeah, right).  And the other sections have an equal number of ideas of drills.  I found that not only has this been very helpful with coaching the team, but I can take my kid out in the backyard and just run through one of these drills until he starts getting the hang of it.  Especially at this young age, I think the kids need some real one on one training and repition to learn what we probably take for granted.

More importantly, I need some major training and ideas to help teach the kids and still have some fun.  The site won’t turn you into you Lou Pinella, but it will give you a fighting chance.  If all else fails, bring treats to practice.

Review PlaysportsTV.com

Larry

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Wishcraft

When you have held senior positions at Disney, Sony Pictures, and the GAP, your next career challenge is quite obvious — start an innovative, green, arts and crafts boutique in Roscoe Village. That is exactly what Candice Blansett-Cummins decided to do, “I wanted to move out of Los Angeles to somewhere more value based so I moved to Chicago. I thought about what I enjoy doing, my love of kids, fashion, and art and I came up with Wishcraft.” Wishcraft combines art education, fashion, creativity, play time, and theatre to bring a new kind of arts and crafts experience to Chicago. Eight week sessions (1 hour each week) range from $175-$195 and 1 week long summer camp sessions (9am-3pm each day) are $350/week.

Wishcraft is currently offering their Spring Sessions.  Each session has a distinct theme and strategy.  Except for Parents and Pipsqueaks (1.5 to 3 years old) all of the sessions are drop offs (over 3 years old).  Mini Me creates projects that express your child’s personality and the kind of person they are and want to be.   Jack Be Nimble is geared at boys where they work with and create cars, roller coasters, superheroes, trains, planes and other boy stuff.  Acting Up creates a script, designs costumes, and builds a set for a performance at the end of 8 weeks.  Bookworms will write and illustrate a book.  And EcoCraft and Ecosessories use (or re-use) natural and recyclable items to create fun and functional items.

“We are at the forefront of teaching green classes.  We are teaching people recycling and upcycling by taking trash and making something new.  Sometimes its just something fun but it can also be something that can be used over again and again.  You are extending the life of something instead of creating a burden for our planet,” explains Candice.

There are many other Spring classes offered, but Wishcraft is gearing up for summer camps which are open for registration.  Examples of some of the camps include En Garde! where campers will create a screenplay for an action packed, combat play.  Project Wishcraft will teach sewing basics for designing and constructing clothes and accessories.  Action! will create a scripts and design a set to film a movie.  All of the summer camps end in some sort of performance, either a play, a fashion show, or a movie.  To break up the day, the kids eat lunch outside and take some free-play action breaks in the studio’s backyard.

To find out what these classes might be like, we went to an open house on Saturday where you were supposed to bring something in to recycle into an art project.  We brought in a cardboard robot that my kid wears around the house.  The staff was extremely attentive and enthusiastic which got our kid excited.  But they really pushed him to come up with the creative ideas on how to decorate the robot.  We wound up with pipe cleaner antennas, ribbon spools for dials, sparkle, and all sorts of colored markers.  My kid walked two blocks down Roscoe back to the car in the robot box costume because he was so proud.

Candice explains why Wishcraft is different, “Art education is something we are not.  We aren’t teaching about how to draw perspective or color theory. Our philosophy is about the creative experience. [Art Education] is about being taught a specific approach.  You might be good or you might not be good.  You may have a positive experience or a negative experience.  For us the outcome isn’t important.  We aren’t in a category, we are making the category.”

We agree with Candice that this is a very different place that is hard to pigeon hole.  The classes are very different, the staff’s attitude is different, and so the experience is different.  We think this will be a great place to learn about art, theatre, or fashion, but probably more importantly, it is just a lot fun.  Though Candice (who has a son 6 and a daughter 10) is the founder, her official title is Chief Giggle Officer.  “I want to tap into the kids’ creativity.  I want to make sure it is clean and safe.  But I primarily make sure that everyone is having a good time”

Review Wishcraft

Mom Says: During the summer, the studio’s huge backyard will be a great asset. It is completely enclosed by a high fence so kids can run around safely. Wishcraft offers crafty and creative birthday parties too.

Dad Says:  It is not easy to get my son to sit through any type of class, let alone art, but the staff really drew him in and he really wanted to make the best robot possible.  We got a lot of smiles walking down Roscoe in a glittery robot costume.

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Games On the Move

So we wound up at a restaurant after a very long day and we didn’t have our typical bag of cars for our kid to play with.  Of course, we would like nothing more than to hear our 4 year old’s introspective on the economy (how it is getting in the way of his toy collection), pop culture (will the new Iron Man cartoon be as good as its predecessors), and sports (can we go to a baseball games to eat cotton candy), but maybe we would like to have a quiet meal, too.  In an emergency, I broke down and downloaded some games onto my iPhone for him to try.  I don’t think you’ll be getting rid of Gameboys or Leapsters just yet, but these iPhone apps were definitely entertaining enough to fill in some gaps in time while you are out and about.

Many games on the iPhone are free and some charge anywhere from $.99 cents to $1.99 for extra levels, ability to customize the game, or some extra functionality.  They can all be found at the iTunes store or at the App Store on your iPhone.  Many of these games are also available for your computer, Blackberry, Palm, or other smart phone.  The iPhone App Store shows you the top 25, as well as a couple of other sorts to help you try to pick from the massive amount of applications that are out there.  We just tried a couple to see if they are worth it.

Moose Concentration.  This is a simple game of classic concentration.  Your whole screen fills up with moose heads.  Touching  a moose turns over the head and exposes a dressed up moose.  Your goal is to find the pair.  When you find a pair, it pulls the moose off the screen.  When the screen is filled up, its pretty difficult to find a pair as there are 30-some moose on the screen.  However, our kid battled through it and when he finished the whole screen he jumped out of his chair, yelled, and held the phone high to proclaim victory.

Bug Squash.  Like one of our favorite arcade games, Spider Stomp, this game lets you squash different types of insects.  You can pick from The Ants Go Marching (where you destroy ants until 10 of them get passed you) or Fly Boys, or a combination.  You squash the bugs using your finger on the touch screen and the game has great squishing noises and portraits of dead bugs.

Balloonimals.  Balloonimals starts to give you an idea of how game programmers are getting really creative with games specifically for phones.  With Balloonimals, you need to blow into the microphone to blow up a balloon.  Once the balloon gets to  a certain size (and it does shrink if you stop blowing or blow in the wrong place), the game orders you to shake the phone.  The balloon then turns into an animal after you shake the phone aggressively (my kid only dropped the phone once).  The dinosaur comes with the free game, but crabs, dogs, and other animals come if upgraded (yes, we had to upgrade he liked it so much).  You can then touch the animals and they do a little dance or the dog scratches itself.  If you touch the screen, an air pump shows so you can explode the balloon (and hilarious laughter ensues).

Labyrinth 3D.  Labyrinth is another game that really takes advantage of the iPhones unique capabilities.  The Labyrinth is a silver ball in a wooden maze.  You tilt the labyrinth to steer the ball into the end of the maze.  Once you have won a couple of times, it also lets you shake the iPhone to jump the ball over some of the maze walls.  It is kind of cheating but is a fun novelty.

Boostlane.  If you are going to make games for kids, you better have something with cars in it.  This game challenges you to race through the streets, dodge other cars, and run over little gems in the road for points.  It comes with some really cool music, great crash sounds, and like Labrynth, you tilt the iPhone to steer the car.  The game moves fast and so I found it a little hard to control the car (if you tilt forward too much you’ll fly down the screen) and so did my 4 year old.  But that did not stop us from playing.  Getting to the finish usually gets a big high 5 and there are 7 more levels to go.

Air Hockey.  The oldies are always the best goodies.  You can play air hockey with one or two players and you steer the paddles with your finger.  A two player game with your kid and your phone makes things very cozy and you really have to hold on to the phone tightly.  The computer does a nice job of playing against kids on Kiddie mode (it moves away from the goal just like we would).  But even better, you can play the game with two disks.  This is a crazy fast game that makes it even more fun.  The sound effects are absolutely perfect.  The clack on the paddles and the swoosh of the goal is spot on. 

Larry and Donna

Mom Says: Our friends just recently convinced me to spend some time in the Apps Store and I love ‘em. Even I giggle when the Balloonimals do their little moves - super cute.

Dad Says:  I can’t get over how much fun the Air Hockey was - both on one player and two player mode.  I think the kid liked playing the balloon game the best, but the Air Hockey was a close second.

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Moms Making a Difference: Dr. Elfriede Pahl

Welcome to the first installment of Moms Making a Difference.  Each month we’ll introduce you to somebody in the Chicagoland area that you should know about who is helping make life better for families and their kids.  This month, we had the privilege of talking to Dr. Elfriede Pahl from Children’s Memorial Hospital.  Dr. Pahl, a mother of three, is the Medical Director of the heart transplant division at Children’s Memorial.  This is a large team of surgeons, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, and doctors that help kids and their families find new hearts.  Dr. Pahl’s specialty is providing the medical assistance needed before and after a transplant.  We talked with Dr. Pahl about the state of the art of transplants, the current challenges in the field, things her kids do that drive her crazy, and things she loves to do with her kids.

Where did you grow up and go to school?   I was actually born in Austria and my family emigrated here when I was one year old.  Came straight to Chicago.  I grew up in what is now Roscoe Village.  It used to just be called Roscoe.  I went to undergrad at Caroll College in Wisconsin.  I went to Northwestern [medical school] and I’m still here.  I have spent most of my career at Northwestern.

When did you know you wanted to pursue medicine?  When I was 16.  Believe it or not, I was talking to my dentist whose wife was a pediatrician.  I liked science and I liked kids.  I thought about being a kindergarten teacher.  I just thought about the combination of working with kids and science and pediatrics made sense.  I started volunteering at Children’s Memorial and it all came together.   Nothing ever changed my mind.

What is your current specialty?  I am in pediatric cardiology, heart transplantation.  We do about 10 [transplants] a year.  I am the Medical Director.  The Surgical director actually performs the surgery.  I decide which patients need transplants and after the surgery I follow the patient…We have a very large multi-service team that helps care for these kids. 

What is the largest challenge for heart transplants for kids?  Many things.  The biggest challenge remains getting hearts for the kids that need it.  Many patients die but the families don’t think it is appropriate to donate.  And the other is that several years later the patient dies of rejection.  I think our success with actually doing the surgery is wonderful.  We have very capable surgeons.  Most kids who get a transplant do very well and go home and the big challenge is staying healthy over the years.

What is currently being done to drive the rejection rate down?  The medication we use now is better than we used 10 years ago.  The medicine we used then was better than what we used 20 years ago.  We are going to have better drugs, that are much more specific, with fewer side effects. 

How does being a mother make you a better pediatric cardiologist?  That is easy.  I think I was a pretty good doctor before I had kids, but once I had my own children I was able to take the time that was needed, however much time it would take, to explain a complex problem.  To sit with parents, if they were crying, if they were sad, to do whatever I felt was needed or sensed that they needed because…sometimes I take care of some very sick children and try to help families get through some very rough times…Especially when I take care of patients that are the same age as my children.

How does being a pediatric cardiologist make you a better mother?  I think my children have learned what is important in life.  Maybe I am harder on them than other parents are.  When they have minor illnesses, I always minimize it and they call me on it.  “Do I have to have something life threatening to get your attention.  I can’t just have a pimple?”  I will say to them “Get a Grip” this is not a big deal.  It helps them appreciate what is important and what isn’t. 

What do your kids like to do for fun that you hate?  Loud music.  I like classical music and like most parents that are middle-aged, I don’t like really loud music.  They also like to watch some of these crazy TV shows.  I have three daughters and next year I’ll have three teenagers and they’ll watch America’s Next Top Model.  I hate that show.  I don’t think it teaches girls anything important.

What do your kids like to do for fun that you like to do as well?  Shopping.  I am a typical girl.  I am really glad I had girls so we can go shopping together. 

What do your kids do with their father that you hate?  They watch sports, basketball, football.  I really don’t do spectator sports at all.  When they have soccer on the weekends, Mike takes them.  I’ll go to be supportive, but it is really his thing with them. 

What do your kids do with their father that you told him not do?  Nothing.  He is a really good guy.  I am the junk food junkie.  He is usually telling me, “Why do you buy this stuff for them?  You are the cardiologist.”

Any last message for the parents of Chicago?  Let your kids figure out who they are.  I try to spend as much time with them as I can.  I work pretty hard, and I let my kids know that I love them, and that is what is important.

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Theater Review: Mary Poppins

There has been a lot of discussion amongst all of my “mom” friends surrounding the theater production of  Mary Poppins. At 2 hours and 45 minutes we were wondering “Can my child sit through the entire show?” and “Is this show even meant for little children?” Early reviews said parts of the show “were dark and unlike the original”.  I went to the theater with all of these questions in mind and came away with the answers:  Mary Poppins is fantastic show with great acting, singing, dancing, and sets.  Mary Poppins is playing at the Cadillac Palace Theatre through July 12, 2009 and ticket prices range from $25 to $90.

The show opens fast and furious with the old favorite Chim Chim Cher-ee.  Practically Perfect introduces Mary’s magical qualities, and vanity to the children. Jolly Holiday is a wonderful reinterpretation of the movie version. Instead of animation, the statues in the park come to life, singing and dancing in this wonderful number.  The first half of the show peaks at Supercalifragilistic and is a highlight of the show.  The number is filled with intricate choreography, amazing singing, and sizzling energy.

Be forwarned that the first half of the show lasts for 1.5 hours.  It slows down during the bank scene and is followed by the less enthusiastic Feed the Birds.  If you are there with kids (or grandparents or moms or dads) that are going to need to go to the bathroom, go as soon as the bank scene hits.  The intermission is extremely crowded and you might miss the beginning of the second half.

The second half of the show lasts an hour and moves very quickly.  There are many reprises of songs, as well as the new Brimstone and Treacle and the classic Let’s Go Fly a Kite. Two production numbers really stand out as some of the best in the production: Step in Time and the finale Anything Can Happen. Step in Time is a high-energy dance number that has Bert dancing up the walls and across the ceiling, as the audience stomps and claps along. Anything Can Happen where stars shoot out into the audience and Mary flys away above our heads. It was really magical.

The elements of the play that stray the farthest from the movie are the darkest. The Banks children are brattier, more jaded, and more critical - especially Jane. Mary gets angry with the childern for not taking care of their toys, so she creates a nightmare for the children where their toys come to life. The scene, Playing the Game, is fairly creepy and scary. At the end of the first half Mary leaves the children and is replaced by the nasty nanny Miss Andrews who believes in Brimstone and Treacle versus Mary’s Spoonful of Sugar. The Miss Andrews character reminded me of the Wicked Witch of the West.

Mary Poppins is a theatrical thrill ride, enjoyable, engaging, and ultimately extremely fun.  We are lucky in Chicago to have the original Broadway Mary Poppins, Ashley Brown, and Bert, Gavin Lee.  They are obviously extremely talented, but the supporting cast is no less talented which makes for a blockbuster of  a show.  For kids 8 and older, consider Mary Poppins a must see.  On the way out, I took an informal poll of Moms with kids under 7, and we almost unanimously agreed we would recommend the play for little kids, 4 years and older.

Review this Blog.

 Donna

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