.jpg)
This Sunday June 17th families across the country will be celebrating Father’s Day, highlighting the important role that all father’s play in the lives of everyone. For most sons their father is someone they look up to and aspire to walk in his footsteps. For me personally, I have followed and continue to follow that path.
Growing up I had a very strong relationship with my dad, he coached several of my youth sports, including rec basketball, as well as Little League, Babe Ruth baseball. Looking back now I was very lucky to have him make that commitment to being involved in my youth athletics considering he is a college baseball coach and the hours that job demands to be successful. The involvement that he was able to have in my youth athletic career was the foundation of our strong relationship and now continues to be one of the strengths of our friendship today.
For most father-son relationships, once you become an adult, go to college, graduate, and get a job, you tend to spend less and less time together as life takes you in different directions. For me, I was lucky enough to have a different experience. In college I had the opportunity to play baseball. After attending a school out of state I made the decision to transfer back to Maine and play for the school my dad coaches at. It was a great experience for both of us; one that I will always remember and that I continue to look back on and be thankful for! This Father’s Day allows me to reflect on that experience and the several years that have followed since now I am an assistant coach under him!
For me, almost every day is Father’s Day. Almost my entire life I’ve been playing for my dad or I’ve been coaching with him, the past 7 years at the collegiate level. Like any collegiate athlete the time and effort you put into each year, along with the sacrifices it takes to be competitive makes the entire process special, even more so when you are able to share those experiences with your father, who you grew up learning from in the first place. Now that I am coaching with my dad it is an even greater experience as I am able to learn on a day to day basis the little things that go into running an organization.
Both playing and coaching under my father have been great, mostly because we both have relatively easy-going personalities, and lucky we do, because not every moment is perfect! There have been plenty of times when we have disagreed or had our days that we have spent a little too much time together and need to take some time apart! We always are able to laugh it off though which makes things fun. We definitely have a special relationship and are able to work toward the same goals, while blending our family and working relationship.
Probably the best thing about working with my father is that we both have a lot in common so we are usually on the same page working towards similar goals, making it easy to relate to one another. I’m very happy to have had the opportunity to have played baseball for him and now that we coach together I continue to learn from him daily and enjoy our father-son bond. This Father’s Day every father has their own story with their child or children and I’m lucky enough to be part of a particularly special one with my father.
- Lincoln Sanborn