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To
Do or Not To Do--No Question
Al most every family and kid have a summer to-do list. That's the
list of fun things they want to do now that school is over. It usually
includes: Go on vacation . . . Swim at the pool . . . Sleep late
. . . .
If you love
sports, maybe you and your family should have a summer sports to-do
list. Here are some things you could do:
- Go see the
Nationals. This is the team's final season at RFK Stadium. Next
year the Nats will move into the new ballpark that will be more
expensive and have fewer seats. RFK has plenty of cheap seats,
and the Nats are playing better than expected. So go to RFK and
root, root, root for the home team.
- Go to a minor
league baseball game. There are nearby teams in Bowie, Frederick
and Woodbridge. If your family wants to travel farther, there
are teams in Hagerstown and Aberdeen, Maryland, and even Triple-A
teams in Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia. At minor league games,
kids can sit closer to the action. And it's cool to say you saw
some big leaguer when he was in the minors.
- Don't forget
the Cal Ripken Sr. league. That's a summer league for college
baseball stars where they play with wooden bats just like the
pros. There are seven teams in the D.C. area. The games are fun
and very kid-friendly.
- If baseball
isn't your sport, there are lots of summer league basketball games
around if you want to see some hoops. For soccer fans, D.C. United
and the women's Washington Freedom are around and kicking. Be
sure to mark Aug. 9 on your sports calendar: That's when the Los
Angeles Galaxy and the world-famous David Beckham are coming to
RFK Stadium to play United.
But all these
things are just watching sports. Summer's long, warm days are perfect
for playing sports. So here are some more things to put on your
to-do list:
- Play catch.
No matter what your favorite sport is, you will get better if
you play catch for 15 minutes a day. Throw a baseball back and
forth after dinner. Or toss a lacrosse ball around to practice
your stick-handling. Passing a basketball or football will improve
your hand coordination. Maybe you don't "play catch"
in soccer, but kicking the ball around the yard or park will improve
your dribbling.
- Take up
a new sport. If you play soccer during the school year, maybe
try tennis. Or set up a badminton net in the yard. Or get your
golfer mom or dad to take you to the driving range to see if you
are the next Tiger Woods or Annika Sorenstam.
Whatever you
do, don't just sit around this summer. A recent study found that
kids ages 8 to 18 spend an average of 6 1/2 hours a day on television,
electronic games, computers, music and other media. That's horrible,
especially in the summer.
No, summer is
the time to turn off the video games and to do the real games.
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