TGHA Update
March 22, 2007
 
Good Luck to 13Us and 19Us
Board Meeting Tonight
RSVP for March 28 Banquet
Nominate for Shull Award
IYHA 50th Invitation
Message from Dads and Daughters
 
Good Luck to 13Us and 19Us
 
This weekend the 13U Shooting Stars are playing in a tournament in Canandaigua, NY, and the 19Us are competing in Bethlehem, PA tourney.  Good Luck Girls and Coaches!
 
Board Meeting Tonight
 
All are welcome at the monthly TGHA Board Meeting, 7:00 p.m., Cayuga Heights Fire Station Conference Room
 
RSVP for TGHA Banquet
 
Did you get the invitation to next Wednesday's banquet sent by TGHA-All this week?
RSVP by Tuesday: mclisa@twcny.rr.com
 
Nominate for Shull Award
 
By Monday, please respond to Carol's request for nominations for the annual Megan Shull Award!  cwestmullins@yahoo.com
 
IYHA 50TH ANNIVERSARY GALA

Please join the Ithaca Hockey Association at Ithaca Beer & Soda Company on March 30 for the IYHA 50th Anniversary Gala.  Enjoy beer and soda tastings, great food from some of Ithaca's most popular restaurants, and live music.  Most important, let's celebrate the role IYHA has played in the lives of young hockey players and our entire community for the past 50 years, plus the completion of an exciting 2006-07 season!  This event is open to all friends of IYHA: members, alums, sponsors and hockey enthusiasts.  Please pass the word!

Admission is $20 per person, payable at the door.
Adults only please (business, casual attire)
Proceeds to benefit the IYHA 50th Anniversary History Project.

Tips for Dads & Daughters During the Women’s NCAA Basketball Championship
 
Editor's Note: Insert 'hockey; wherever it reads 'basketball'!  Sorry I didn't have this to send out before last weekend's NCAA Women's Hockey Championship! 
 
BTW the two time national champion Wisconsin Badgers have at least three Ithaca connections (first coach was Julie Sasner who left Cornell to start the program, asst coach for all the years since then is Cornell women's hockey alumna Tracey Cornell, and freshman player Kyla Sanders  played at the second Ithaca Silver Stick Tournament when she was 12U!) 

March Madness is underway in women's college basketball (and the start of the WNBA season isn’t far behind!). This is an exciting time for dads to watch or listen to the women’s game with their daughters and stepdaughters.  Here are some tips for fathers and stepfathers during tournament time.

1.  Remember that your daughter or stepdaughter hungers for your attention. Make popcorn and watch the tournament together for a great opportunity to talk about the game, or anything else on her mind! NCAA Division I games are on ESPN and ESPN2—the Women’s Final Four is April 1 and 3.

2.  Fill out brackets together (find them at www.ncaasports.com/basketball/womens). Dads & Daughters' Board member David Powers shares his story:
 
My wife, daughters and I all fill out the bracket and have a lot of fun tracking who won, who lost -- and we even give prizes (for example, the winner picks where to have dinner next time we dine out). We learn about colleges they may not have known, talk about national (and sometimes international) geography, look at player profiles to see where they are from, what they are studying in school, etc. In short, a very low-cost way to connect with your daughter!
 
3.  Celebrate these powerful women.  Compliment a great shot, steal, or smart pass. Our daughters hear so often that men only care about women’s looks. Show your excitement for the game by commenting on their skills and physical capabilities. And if commercials objectify women (e.g., scantily clad women in beer commercials), call the station, the product manufacturer, and the NCAA to complain.

4.  Talk about your basketball days, if you played. Talk about how hard it is to master, while still incredibly fun for anyone to play. Ask her opinion on game situations as they arise. Then get interested together in other women’s sports, like golf, soccer and volleyball.

5.  Read articles together about the games you watched or missed in the newspaper or online.  If your news source has inadequate coverage of the women's tourney, write a letter to the editor to ask for more articles.

6.  Learn about one or two players in depth—where they're from, their family backgrounds, etc.  That helps you and your daughter start to care about and relate to them. It also makes the games and the sport more interesting.

7.  Come up with a fun activity or contest related to what happens on the court. (e.g.: If her favorite player hits a 3-pointer in the 13th minute of the first half, Dad has to help Daughter with her chores the next day.)

8.  Talk about the positive trends in basketball (on-court hustle or its increasingly international flavor) as well as the controversial ones (recruiting abuses or the question of male vs. female coaches) and ask her what life lessons she learns from the game.

9.  Go to a game in person (and bring Mom, too!) The Division I Regional championships are March 24-27 in Fresno, Dallas, Pittsburgh, and Los Angeles. The Division II Elite Eight plays March 26-29 in Kearny, NE. There's nothing like the atmosphere of a real tournament game.

10.   When the game is over, go outside and shoot hoops together!

Get more resources for fathering daughters at our website!
DADs: Making the world safe and fair for our daughters
 http://www.dadsanddaughters.org/


Mary M. Grainger
421 Highland Road
Ithaca, NY 14850
Phone 607-257-3268
Fax 607-257-0483
Cell 607-280-4380