I'm impressed by athlete's parents

I was just thinking about athlete's parents this morning. I've run into my fair share of them.

I was really impressed with Ryan Cordiero's parents. They really made it seem as if they joined the UConn Soccer family when their son committed to UConn. They came to the West Virginia game in 2008. I don't know what their plans were. Maybe they were around and stopped by. I do know that Ryan Cordiero is listed as being from New York. If they traveled from New York for that game they showed just how close a family UConn Soccer is.

I think I met Josh Ford's parents and they were really nice.

O'Brian White's father was really cool. He, like all parents, was really proud of what his son had accomplished. He said he dropped off this skinny little boy at school and ended up with a big strong young man.

I seem to remember Lauren Ebert's mom being really happy that her daughter was put on the women's soccer poster.

I think Margot Demere's mom wanted a volleyball poster for everyone in her family.

Cory Bildstein's father said that he traveled 4 and half hours for games.

I am amazed at how far families travel for games. Tiffany Hayes is from Florida, but I noticed that her family made a lot of trips to games. I remember reading that Mel Thomas's family made almost all of her games. Maya Moore's mom also rarely misses a game.

Tyler Lorenzen's entire family made it for an early season game. Other football players family members came with their players jersey on. They also wanted to get as many football magnets (with pictures of their sons on them) as they could.

What impresses me more than anything else is the amount of time and money that parents spend to travel to their kids games. It's remarkable and it's something they deserve credit for.

I also can't help but notice how proud every parent is of their child. They love being able to say that their child plays on the team.

I can't blame them for bragging either. Parents have had to sacrifice a lot in order to get their kids to all of the tournaments and showcases to get them at the elite levels in their sports. I remember my roommate who ran track telling me that he traveled out to Kansas to run and get noticed.

For some sports and in some cases parents also have to spend tons of money in order for their kids to be successful. I didn't realize that top club soccer teams can cost anywhere from $200 to $6,000 to play on.

I'm not sure that I've met too many college kids who look forward to hanging out with their parents on campus. Usually I get the complaint of your car is too messy, your room is too messy, how do you live like this, your bed isn't perfect, where is your vacuum etc. etc. My mom loves to come into my room and re-arrange things.

However, parents do deserve recognition for the amount that they sacrifice for their children's athletic success. They make every effort possible to go to games. They do whatever they can to help their kids succeed.

I guess that they have invested so much in their kids athletics career that it would be impossible not to drive 5 hours for games.

While I am on the subject of athletes parents I do want to cover one negative thing...

I do want to say that the parents that think they are the coach and the referee are not good to have at games. I haven't seen any of them at UConn. (I did see one at a soccer game last weekend) Complaining only adds to disunity and yelling at their kids during the game does nothing but distract them.