COACH'S IMPACT SCORES BIG AMONG KIDS.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
If the measure of a great youth sports coach is the lasting impact he makes on his players, their parents and other coaches, then Howie Honig belongs in the Hall of Fame of great youth coaches. A year after his death at age 42 from complications after surgery to remove a brain tumor Brain Tumor Definition A brain tumor is an abnormal growth of tissue in the brain. Unlike other tumors, brain tumors spread by local extension and rarely metastasize (spread) outside the brain. , Howie's presence is still being felt inside the basketball gym at Northridge Northridge is the name of some places in the United States of America:
This Saturday Saturday: see week; Sabbath. , two state-of-the-art scoreboards with plaques plaques, n.pl 1. brain lesions found within the vacant areas between nerve cells. 2. deposits of cholesterol in artery walls that characterize arteriosclerosis. in memory of Howie Honig will be unveiled at the gym, paid for with $10,000 donated do·nate v. do·nat·ed, do·nat·ing, do·nates v.tr. To present as a gift to a fund or cause; contribute. v.intr. To make a contribution to a fund or cause. this past year by people who knew what kind of lessons Howie was teaching kids inside this small basketball gym. ``It's been amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. - all the people who came forward to donate to Howie's memorial fund and tell stories of how much his coaching meant to their kids and to them,'' said Kathrynn Penny, assistant director of the park. The irony of associating his memory with scoreboards doesn't escape anyone who knew Howie. They say it was never the final score that concerned him - just the kids. ``It didn't make a difference whether you were the star of the team or the last-round pick. Howie treated every player on his team the same,'' said Chris Parks Chris J. Parks[3][5] (born October 4, 1973), better known by his ring name Abyss , is an American professional wrestler currently working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. , who was coordinator for all sports at Northridge Park when Howie coached. ``I heard a lot of coaches talk about how the important thing was not winning or losing, but whether the kids were having fun and learning,'' Parks said. ``Howie actually meant it. ``You can tell whether kids are having fun or not. It's written all over their faces. Howie's kids always had smiles on their faces. Always.'' Up in the stands, Sari Honig, Howie's widow, couldn't count the times a game was on the line in the final few seconds, and she saw her husband looking down his bench for the kid who hadn't yet been given much playing time or his chance to shoot. Howie always put him in - and gave him the ball. ``It's amazing how many times that last kid on the bench made the shot,'' Sari said. ``But even when the kid didn't, the other players didn't get down or mad. They knew what Howie was doing - the sportsmanship and teamwork (product, software, tool) Teamwork - A SASD tool from Sterling Software, formerly CADRE Technologies, which supports the Shlaer/Mellor Object-Oriented method and the Yourdon-DeMarco, Hatley-Pirbhai, Constantine and Buhr notations. he was trying to teach them.'' The lessons rubbed off, said Lior Avishay, who now coaches in the league himself and whose son was on Howie's team. ``I was driving home recently with my 11-year-old son, Michael, who had just made the last shot to win the game,'' Avishay said. ``I was so proud of him, like any father would be. Out of nowhere, Michael says to me, 'Dad, I wish Howie would have been there to see me.' That's the impact this man made on an 11-year-old. ``I'll be in the middle of coaching a game now and look up at the doors, leading in from the parking lot, Howie used to come through - and still see his smiling face walking into the gym.'' The three Honig children miss their father. Miss him a lot. Jared, 16, and Bryan, 12, played basketball for their dad in the little Northridge gym, while Alissa, 13, rooted for them up in the stands with her mom (1) (Messaging-Oriented Middleware) See messaging middleware. (2) (Microsoft Operations Manager) Software that monitors and captures system and application events throughout the network. . When Howie died, it was where the Honig family chose to hold his memorial service. Two hundred chairs were set up inside this gym for people to come say goodbye. When the doors were opened, more than 900 people were waiting to come in. That's the impact of a great coach. This year, as her 13th birthday approached, Alissa told her mom she really didn't need anything for herself. Instead, she asked her friends and people who knew her dad for a donation for those scoreboards in his memory. She raised $1,000. ``It's so touching when players and parents from Howie's teams come up to me or the kids and tell us they can still feel Howie's presence in that gym, like he's still there rooting them on,'' Sari said. Looking down from those scoreboards with his name on them - and telling everyone to forget the score. Just have fun. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Howie Honig's widow, Sari, and three children gather under one of the scoreboards donated in the popular youth coach's memory at the Northridge Recreation Center. Michael Owen
|
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion