Athletic Support: I need your help
eli.cranor@gmail.com
Dear READERS of Athletic Support: This time, I have a question for you: Why won’t you send in more questions?
Maybe you’re afraid someone will recognize your story and you’ll be revealed as “Menacing Mother of Two” or “Diehard Daddy” in the stands of your child’s next sporting event. Maybe it’s just a time issue. Maybe with three kids and a full-time job, you just don’t have the time to write a hundred-word question and send it to eli.cranor@gmail.com.
The one thing I do know, however, is that you’re reading this column.
“Athletic Support” now appears in more than twenty different newspapers across seven states. Readers comment on the articles and even go so far as to send me responses via email, telling me when they agree and/or disagree with the advice I offer each week.
But questions are the lifeblood of any advice column, and for some reason my inbox is almost always empty!
Most weeks I turn to friends, family, and former coaches, badgering them until they finally send me a question. Six months and thirty columns later, I’m afraid I’m about to wear out my welcome.
I don’t know why I receive so few questions each week, but I want you to know this: I need YOU. If you enjoy this column and want to see it continue, please take five minutes out of your day to submit a question. Even if you don’t have kids in youth sports, you could send me questions you had when your kids were younger!
I spend an inordinate amount of time wondering why so few of you will actually write in with questions. A close friend of mine offered up some sage advice last week which prompted me to write this unorthodox installment of “Athletic Support.” He basically said, “Nobody wants advice on how to raise their kids, Eli.”
Let me be clear: I don’t know how to raise your kids; I have trouble enough raising my own. But, listen, I want this column to be your safe place. You can even submit the questions anonymously using the “Contact” page on my website (elicranor.com). My hope is that you read questions submitted by parents and grandparents from all across the country and whisper the two most comforting words in the English language: “Me too.”
When my mom came up with the title “Athletic Support,” I remember thinking how perfect it was. The title encapsulates everything I want this column to be: a place where you can come and feel “supported,” while growing at the same time, and, heck, maybe even laugh a little bit, too.
So please send me your questions, your concerns — anything and everything that’s on your heart — and in return you’ll get the best “Athletic Support” a former jock can offer.
Eli Cranor is a former professional quarterback and coach turned award-winning author. Please use the “Contact” page at elicranor.com to send in questions for “Athletic Support.”
Previous Athletic Support Columns:
• Help! My daughter wants to play football
• Transferring to a smaller school: the good, the bad, and the ugly
• What’s that smell? It’s not as bad as you think
• A break from school but not from sports
• Should a coach pray with his team?
• Coach tells player not to shoot
• Do nice guys (and girls) really finish last?
• Coach cancels post-season awards banquet
• No cellphones in the locker room!
• Fake scholarship signing?
• Withholding football as punishment
• Sick and tired of losing
• Late bloomer, a blessing or a curse?
• Scholarship hopes dead, now what?
• Is my son a butterfly chaser?
• Don’t force sports on your kids
• Hunting or Football?
• Beat the Heat
• Idle Hands
• Coach’s son gets special attention
