Brooke de Lench's blog

On Sunday, the New England Patriots met their bitter rivals, the New York Jets, for the third time this season, with the winner advancing to the AFC Championship game. The Pats had only lost two games all season, were unbeaten at Gillette Stadium, and were heavy favorites to not only beat the Jets but to go all the way to and win the Super Bowl in Dallas in early February.

But it didn't go according to plan. Bill Belichick's team played poorly, the Jets played well, and the result was a shocking 28-21 loss by New England to Rex Ryan's Jets.

As painful as the loss has been for Pats fans, it nevertheless provides a great "teachable moment" for parents to talk about with their young athletes around the dinner table.

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to talk to Lester Holt on NBC's Today Show about a subject I have been writing and talking about for the past decade - sports training for kids at earlier and earlier ages.  It was fitting to end the year and the last week of MomsTeam's first decade speaking to the nation about the tremendous pressure parents are under to place their infants and toddlers in programs that promote giving young children an "edge" in the mad rush to grab a seat on the runaway bus of youth sports.

To address the discrimination in athletics that girls still face in high schools across the country the National Women's Law Center has launched the "Rally for Girls' Sports: She'll Win More Than a Game" campaign. As part of the campaign, I was invited to participate and to write a blog about the advantages of athletics participation and how it has affected me in my life by answering the question, "What did you win by playing sports?"

As those who have read my articles and blogs on MomsTeam.com, heard me speak around the country, on radio or television, or read my op eds or book, Home Team Advantage, know, I have often used personal stories from my past in my work advocating for safer, saner, less stressful and more inclusive youth sports.

There is a battle brewing at Laguna Beach High School in California. It involves protecting the safety of kids during sports, so you know which side I fall on. This is no different than hundreds of stories from across the country that that I get sent each month, but this caught my attention because it talked about a Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) infection which is a potentially fatal bacterium that too few sports parents know much about. 

Before I began writing my youth sports parenting book, Home Team Advantage, a close friend - who was herself  the author of four bestselling books - gave me a short book called Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by by Anne Lamott.