From world-class cities to the smallest villages and towns on every continent, there are coaches who give their time, skills and knowledge to the children of the world.  Their names may not be instantly recognizable, they may not receive the appreciation our first responders do, but they make the world a better place.  A top high school wrester, my husband Paul volunteered for 11 years as a wrestling coach, starting when our eldest signed up for wrestling in sixth grade through our younger son’s final high school year.  He was the clipboard guy, keeping notes on what the wrestlers did well, what needed practice in the coming week, their scores in meets and the team scores. “Win by fall,” for those not familiar with wrestling, is what you want: to win by pinning your opponent. Luckily, that was a fairly frequent occurrence in Eli’s high school career.  

This quilt is a father and son moment, but it also represents the generosity of all Eli’s coaches, as well as coaches around the world. Thanks to Eli’s middle school coaches: Jim Morse (Cross Country, Track and Field); True Bragg and Paul, and when Eli visited the high school Levi Rollins (Wrestling), and assorted soccer coaches.  In high school, thanks to Becky Flanagan and Helen Bonzi (Cross Country); Patrick Kelly, Perry Goodspeed,  Jack Kelly and Paul and all the alumni wrestlers who came to help the team; and Sarah Mismash (Track and Field).

Support extra-curricular sports locally: Contact your schools and find out what they need, from volunteers to funding to supplies. Things that need funding may include new uniforms, bus travel for tournaments, hotels if the tournaments require an overnight trip, new scoreboards and more. Most of all, support the kids who are learning lessons for life: health, fitness, personal responsibility, that some things need effort and only the kid can do that. Learning to be independent and work hard is a lesson that will stand our children in good stead their entire lives. The coaches, families and community are what make sports possible.  

When Sarah was six, her family returned to the U.S. after living on four continents. Sarah’s route to art was circuitous with university, a Master’s Degree, and life as a U.S. diplomat. Sarah says her birthplace was a geographical accident, it should have been Maine. Maine’s everyday beauty inspires her work. Playing with color, cloth, dye, paint, line, shape, form, light and shadow is simply pure joy. Sarah’s work has been juried into shows around the world including the inaugural Rising Stars exhibit at International Quilt Festival 2017 and is in public and private collections. She is an author, has an instructional video and has appeared on Quilting Arts TV and The Quilt Show. www.SarahAnnSmith.com