Poets Day US

Well at least a post that was something like this. Actually I may have already written this post but I forget stuff so here we go again maybe :)  Earlier this week a friend of mine posted the comment on the book of faces " If you decide that one of my children don't belong somewhere because of the color of their skin and decide it is ok to assault or taunt them, I WILL protect and defend my own. If you have an issue with someone, best to keep it to yourself. This is not the 1960's or earlier when you can say and do things to people with racially motivated hate and not have some action reciprocated." This person is my friend for a couple of reasons, we first met met when I coached his son on the rugby field when the team he was with was a few players short and we would create what they call motley teams over here in the US (I prefer to call them The Barbarians but then again I am correct)  :)  My friends son is a wonderful kid, absolute joy to coach and to...

Dear Ultra Secret Private Diary that I can write in without fear of anyone else ever reading what I post here, it has been over a month since I last wrote about anything here and I think it is time to unburden my soul in some writing therapy - mainly because it is cheaper than real therapy and I hate taking pills :) You know what, I was going to write some silly post here about rugby and shit but what use is a therapeutic blog (which this sometimes is) if you don't bare your soul a little. This weekend is Memorial Weekend, I will get to go coach rugby, hang out with some amazing friends and cheer and rejoice in the game that I love - sounds pretty awesome right, and it is. But I only get to do this off the backs of those who gave so much that I can be free. Some of y'all might recall that I did a brief stint in the NZ Territorials back in 88 - I never pretend to be a soldier I might add, however I did sign up to be one. I got kicked out because of my back and not due to a...

Protect and Serve White supremacists all around Then I felt something I looked down at a child He was tracing the outline of himself in the shield. The child looked up. He doesn't realize the power of his suit. The others looked in awe He looked back Continued to outline himself No one is born racist They are just exposed to it But it's still our job to Protect and Serve No matter the cost Charlie Roberts April 2018

Go back and read that title a second time a little slower - it is not what you first thought. Sometimes there is nothing better than the warm embrace of familiarity, especially when things are a little off kilter. I have a buddy, let's call him John Clayton because he is a tree guy (I promise you that makes sense). He went through one of the nastiest things a person can, the breaking up of a consensual partnership where there was a short person that joined the consenualness prior to the partnership dissolving  (marriage and kid that went to no marriage but still a kid for those of you who need me to stop writing like I have a degree in Pompous Gasbag). Well John was having a hard time transitioning from being at home and seeing Little John every day to not seeing him every day, but then he got re-inolved with something that bought him content. Rugby :) That is right, as usual this weeks post as are the majority has something to do with rugby :) But on a serious note it was t...

I refuse to succumb to the people that say I write about rugby too much, so if you don't want to learn a valuable teamwork lesson from the slightly damaged mind of Coach Kiwi then just skip the rest of this weeks post and proceed directly to the fridge and grab a cold one :) A year or so back I was at a USA Rugby Coaching clinic. There was a great group of people there including a couple of buddies whom I coach with me, a couple of big fellas called Byron and Jason, there were guys that work down at Bragg and travel a bit to sandy locations and coaches from some other clubs. The awesome Katie Wurst ran the course that was moved to a local cross fit location (scary place) as it was a tad chilly at the time. The course was a combination of discussions then setting up drills and getting the other coaches to act as the players. Training was a part-whole-part model (or a derivative of that) and after doing a part training teaching how important it was to come up in a line on defense ...

30 years ago I lost a great friend and I have felt a little guilty about it ever since, not that I should, but I do. This is the often told but never written story of the last time I saw Sherilyn White alive and the words that she said that have haunted me to this day. First we need to give a bit of a backstory. I used to love to ride my bike, whether it was a collapsible bike that we used camping, my ever faithful Chopper with the 3 speed shifter, banana seat and ape hanger bars, my red Morrison Monarch whose frame I bent in a crash and never realized it till I got a 2nd hand Peugeot road bike then tried to ride the old Monarch again and couldn't, my Cannondale that I got rid of in 1990 after being told either quit training for triathlons or end up in a wheel chair, the Haro mountain bike I bought 15 years later that lasted 10 years or the Specialized I have now after riding the Haro to death. One of my favorite things was to be out on the road (or these days bike paths) headp...

And the sooner you learn that the better off you are. A friend of mine posted on the book of faces about a girls youth bouncy ball game the other day and about the actions of the opposition, punching her daughter in the back at the end of the game preceded by scratching, elbows and dirty shots throughout the game......and that was just in the stands. Actually it was on the bouncy ball paddock (or whatever they call it) but it just easily could have been in the stands these days. My friend asked the question of whose fault is it for repetitive dirty play on the bouncy ball court, was it the fault of the referee, the fault of the coach but for some reason did not ask if it was the fault of the parent. The 'win at any cost, live vicariously through your child's athletic endeavors trying to make up for the failures in their lives' parent is a major issue for any coach of youth sport. The need to win every game no matter what mentality is (most likely - remember these posts...