NFL PLAY 60 YOUTH FOOTBALL FESTIVAL

NFL's PLAY 60 Youth Football Festival 2013
I had the opportunity to take my son to a very special event surrounding NFL Draft Day a couple of weeks ago.  It was the NFL's PLAY 60 Youth Football Festival at the Chelsea Waterside Park next to Chelsea Piers.

PLEASE NOTE:  This opportunity was given to me by the good folks at volunteerspot.com, who asked me to attend the event on their behalf.  They are compensating me for my time and expense.  However, my opinion of the event is not connected to that compensation.)

The NFL's Play 60 campaign is part of the NFL's long standing commitment to health and wellness for kids. Originally designed to help tackle the problem of childhood obesity, the NFL has committed more than $250 million (in programming, grants, and media time) to youth health and fitness initiatives since 2007. Since they've launched, they've had programs in 77,000 schools nationwide.

Kids going long for a pass.

Part of the program is to get kids to pledge to "Play 60" minutes of exercise everyday. For this event, the NFL was running a series of football clinics for kids ages 6-16. These fast paced drills ended with a 6 minute football game, where kids tried to score as many touchdowns as they could in 3 minutes, and then the team switched sides. It was great fun to watch (My son, being 4.5, didn't quite make the age cut-off. But he had a lot of fun watching the kids, run, throw, and play)


One of the most interesting partner programs with a booth was the Play 60 Invention Contest. The NFL is trying to tap the creativity of kids and is asking them to create fitness-focused games and/or design their own play equipment or football-themed training gear.

Once all of the ideas have been sifted, through, three finalists will be selected to meet with NFL players and league executives and finally a GRAND PRIZE winner will be selected. The Grand Prize is $5,000 along with an NFL prize pack, but most importantly, the winner will get to work with the NFL to make your invention happen!


While I was there, they were showing kids how to mash two ideas together. You'd pick one activity from one pile, one from another, and then try to do them both at the same time.  We picked Football Touchdown Dance and Play Frisbee.  We didn't quite nail it on our first try, but we'll keep on trying!

Some of the ideas being invented on the spot.

   I was really impressed by some of the ideas I saw in the short time I was there, and I'll be very interested to see what some of the kids dream up.

To find out more about the contest and enter, you can go to http://www.nflrush.com/invent.  The contest is open to kids ages 6-13, and the entry period ends on July 12.

FREE STUFF ALERT! If you'd like a free NFL Play60 poster for your kid, Email info@bkfk.com with your mailing address to request one.
You must be over 13 to make the request!

There were also some booths with information and fun activities from some of the NFL's other partners.  The Referee Officiating Academy was showing kids how to make penalty flags.  A Helmet company had a display of helmet safety.  And there were some football toss games for kids to try their hand at.

We had our picture taken with
 moustaches!

Got Milk was also there (for whom I have been a spokesperson in the past.) They were giving out milk moustaches (and photos of kids with milk moustaches) and asking kids to remember to eat healthy, which is part of their project Fuel Up To Play 60.


Under Armour was there giving away t-shirts and showing off a new brand of cleats and shoes. They were also conducting polls, and the most popular shoes and shirts that kids voted on would go into production.

Rush Zone on NickToons

Another booth was for a television show I had never heard of called RUSH ZONE, SEASON OF THE GUARDIANS, which is an animated show that appears on NickToons and features 32 superheroes that suspiciously take on the qualities of the 32 NFL football teams, with a giant robot alien/science fiction bent.  It looked pretty well done, and my son went gaga over the stickers of characters he's never heard of.

We had our own 60 minutes of exercise that day, although it wasn't particularly play.  We drove down to Chelsea Piers after school, thinking we'd bite the bullet and park in one of the 7 paid lots nearby (Street parking in New York is really a blood sport). Unfortunately,  every lot nearby was completely full up, and so we ended up parking on 6th Avenue, and walking just about a mile up and a mile back.  (And it should be said, my son also played on the very cool playground after the event)  Looking at the local street parking signs, we really should have come down at 5:30 and waited in the car until 6-- then there was plenty of FREE street parking right around there.  And the event ran until 7 pm.

Ah well.  We did get 2 miles of walking in, anyway!

 So we're on our way to the Play 60 pledge!

All in all it was a lot of fun!

1....4...3 Mom. 1...4...3.

THIS POST FIRST APPEARED on the site lifeofdad.com.  I participated in their excellent series 12 days of Mom.

In celebration of Mother's Day today, I'd like to tell you a little bit about my mom.

Karel Gertsacov

She was an art teacher for jr. high school for over 25 years.  Her specialty was not the art that her students created, but the creativity that she taught them.  Many students in her class would be down on themselves and their artwork.  It wasn't going the way they wanted, they couldn't draw perspective, they couldn't draw their self-portrait, whatever.  My mom had a rare gift as a teacher- she was able to look at their drawing and show them how what they thought was a weakness in their drawing was really a strength.  If they turned it sideways, or used it as a base for something else, or allowed themselves the opportunity to see the drawing they made vs. the drawing they wanted to make.  Almost invariably, the drawing would turn out better, tears from the student would be averted, and a valuable lesson in self-esteem and creativity would be learned.

After she retired, we would sometimes go out to dinner, and many times former students would recognize her and invariably say the same thing:  "Mrs. G!  You were my favorite teacher!  I loved your class!  I still think about some of those artworks we made!"  As a son, it was very satisfying to see my mom so universally loved.

My dad passed away in 1987, and my mom received some money from the insurance.  After some thought of how to use it, she took a large chunk of it and established an Arts and Academics Grant Program, whereby teachers and schools could apply to get funding for programs in which the arts and the academic curriculum could be combined creatively. Since she began it, the program has given over $15,000 away to schools and teachers, enhancing the lives and educations of thousands of Rhode Island School Children.

My wife and my mom- the two most
important women in my life.

My mom loved to think outside the box. And she loved to be enigmatic and creative.

 One day I received a phone call from her.
"1. 4. 3." she said.
"What?"
 "1.4.3."
"What do you mean?" I asked her.
"Figure it out," she said.

I spent the next couple of weeks pondering us.  I have 4 brothers, and I am the oldest, so I was thinking this was the order in which she loved us.  But that wasn't it.

Or maybe it was an artwork that she particularly loved.   But that wasn't it.

After a week or so of thinking about it, and coming up with multiple wrong answers,  I came up with the right answer.

_   _ _ _ _    _ _ _

I    LOVE    YOU.

1      4          3.

Since then, I've been looking at words in a whole different way.

In 2007, my mom passed away. And not a day goes by that I don't think about her in some way, or miss her.

Sadly, she never met my son.  We found out we were pregnant right before she died, and we never got a chance to tell her.

As I raise my son (now 4.5) , I am teaching him the lessons of creativity and playfulness and self-esteem that I learned from her.

I don't really believe in Heaven, but if I did, I'm sure she'd be looking down at him and smiling.

1.4.3. Mom.  1.4.3.

A Dad in the Momiverse-Year 2: One Dad's report from Mom 2.0 Summit 2013

For the second time in a row, my wife and I attended the Mom 2.0 Summit.  This time it was in Laguna Beach, California at the ultra luxe  Ritz-Carleton.  You can read my recap of last year's Miami proceedings right here: A Dad In the Momiverse

As with  last year, I was overwhelmed in a good way.  Prior to this conference, there was a kind of influential (and controversial) article in the Wall Street Journal that painted the moms that go Mom2 as sort of a group of partying housewives who are plotting and planning for any opportunity to leave the drudgery of their kids and housework on a purported "business trip"  for the freeing lap of luxury that the Ritz-Carleton provides.  This was taken to task in a number of MOM blogs and various other sites. See the Mom 2.0 Appropriate response here.  (and see this hilarious photo taken by Cecily Kellogg of Babble.)

And based on my experience, the article did not create a very accurate picture. I am not denying that Ritz wasn't luxurious, or all that (because in fact, it was pretty flipping fabulous!-- overlooking the ocean, with amazing views of surfers, and swells, and a delicious wind full of flowers, carefully kept up gardens, and people waiting on you almost hand over foot)

Some beautiful photos of Laguna Ritz Carlton
by Stephanie Schwab

But the attendees of this conference were not unsatisfied or bored housewives looking to be pampered. For the most part, the people I met were either super-savvy mom bloggers, people trying to reach super-savvy mom bloggers, or people trying to BECOME super-savvy mom-bloggers.  (I probably fall into the latter camp- although I was also there on behalf of my conference Digital Family Summit, which will happen in October in Baltimore this year (please read more here!).  Mom 2 is a great place to meet potential sponsors and potential attendees/speakers which made it very worthwhile for us to attend.) (NOTE: I was comped tickets to this year's conference  We generally trade tickets between our two conferences.  I am not in the employ of the Mom 2.0 Summit, nor is this review vetted by them.  My opinions are entirely my own)

This year, I would estimate there were approximately 75% women to 25% men.  The conference was both very luxe and very informative) Dove was the title sponsor of the event, and kicked off a #girlsunstoppable campaign, to help girls realize their true beauty and self-worth.  (They were also the title sponsors of the Dad 2 Summit) Other sponsors included Honda, Whirlpool & Lowe's, CVS Minute Clinic, Starbucks, Treetop, Snugli, Arm & Hammer, Bissell, Jamba Juice, and a TON of other people.  SEE THE FULL LIST HERE

There were lots of parties and giveaways, but most importantly, conference sessions.  I had a great time sitting in on a number of sessions, meeting sponsors during the other portions, and yes indulging a little.  I even had my first FACIAL!  Sponsored by Dove.  I am a #clownunstoppable!

Here's a few of my takeaways or favorite session parts.  This is by no means complete.

1) THE POWER OF EMOTION

DOVE, the title sponsor, spent a lot of money to reach these bloggers and this demographic niche  They started a program #girlsunstoppable to help combat self-esteem in girls (which is a great program, and I hope they expand it to #kidsunstoppable), brought in powerhouse speakers like Dove Global Self-Esteem Ambassador Jess Weiner and actress Amanda Peet to talk about their message, gave product samples to each attendee, and set up really amazing suites for people to talk about their programs, and receive facials/manicures, and other beautifying treatments.  Once thing they didn't talk about was their product, or its benefits, even once!  They've really captured the idea that being on the same side as their demographic is JUST as good.  And it's clearly working for them.

2) CROWDSOURCING
I attended a really interesting session about the ins and outs of crowdsourcing done by Dr. Letitia Wright and Sarah Gilbert.  They gave some great tips about successfull techniques for fundraising using tools like Kickstarter and indiegogo.  I'm not in the market RIGHT now to do this, but I've been thinking about it for a while, and I liked getting some great tips.

3) EXPRESSIONS OVER IMPRESSIONS
Fascinating discussion by some of the top brands and brand managers (including Adam Keats of Weber Shandwick, Caitlin Melnick of 360PR, Monica Teague, brand manager for 6 brands at Whirlpool, and Cindy Meltzer, of the Social Craft) about what they are looking for when they partner with bloggers, and how quantification (ie, your blog page hits, twitter followers, klout score) can often be misleading.  What advertisers/brands really want are expressions- people to do things when you write about them.  That's how you get from being a blogger to being an influencer.

4) THE POWER OF SAYING NO
Discussion with some top bloggers (including Charlie Capen of How To Be A Dad and Liz Gumbinner of Mom 101 )about how to say NO to the pitches from brands that aren't worth your time or don't lead anywhere.  The big takeaway is to not try for a single post-- try for a longer relationship that works for both sides, and try to write something that you WANT to write about.

5) EVALUATING YOUR MILLION DOLLAR IDEA

The 100,000 bill is actually the largest US currency ever printed.
(and only for a 3 week period in 1934)

Jennie Baird gave a great 10 minute presentation on figuring out your monetization scheme for your project-- loved it, and some great tips.  She gave a number of ways to monetize, and I'm pretty new to most of them from a blogging perspective. (I don't have the paperwork handy, but if you contact her at the above site, I'm sure she'd be able to hook you up, or even better, consult with you!

I could talk more and more about other things I learned.  Next year, Mom2Summit will be in Atlanta, and as part of it they are establishing the IRIS awards, to recognize the best parenting blogs and posts of the year-- and it will be televised on TBS!  I expect I'll be attending that one also.  How about coming with me? Dads represent!

I'd love to hear your comments about the conference (if you attended)

Kindiefest Takeaways #1: Laurie Berkner's tips for success

Last week I went to an amazing conference-- KindieFest, the Family Music Conference.  It's a conference for Independent Kids' Musicians.  This was the fifth year of the conference, and for the first time, it was held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (in their brand new facility, the Peter Sharp Building.  BAM's association is part of its renewed interest in work for young audiences.

Now I hear you asking, "But Adam, you are not a kid's independent musician!  Why on earth would you go to a conference like this?"

(Go ahead.  Ask it.  I'll wait)

I went for a number of reasons.

Me and the amazing Ella Jenkins

• As a former presenter (director of RI's largest New Year's Eve Festival) I have an interest in booking conferences.

• As a clown and performer, the stuff being discussed was very pertinent for seeking out family audiences.  Yes, I don't sell CD's, and my guitar is shaped peculiarly like a clown nose (and I don't make music with it) but other than that, the audience/market and business tips are spot on.

• As a dad, I have an audience/enthusiast interest in kid's music.  Especially good kid's music.

• Ella Jenkins.

In case you don't know, Ella is one of the people who invented kid's music.  (Not Really)  But she was a pioneer in singing folk music for kids.  She's from Chicago, and my wife grew up listening to her.  And so did my son.  (Her songs were the soundtrack of his youngest years)  And she was keynoting!  'Nuf said.

I loved going to the conference, and being a part of the community.  I met great people, I was exposed to great music I hadn't heard of before, I met a couple of people who might end up presenting my own work, and MOST IMPORTANTLY I got a little jolt about performing/booking/being creative.

I learned a lot from the conference, and over the next few weeks I'll try to articulate a few of the takeaways I got.

Takeaway #1: Keep on keeping on.  Laurie Berkner (celebrated and very popular Kindie artist) talked about her meteoric rise, and gave some valuable tips for being a successful kindie artist (which could apply to all artists.  And all people/entrepreneurs)

1) Be yourself

2) Ask for help

• to do list cop

• publicist

If you are not getting help doing the things you aren't great at, you'll spend a lot of time being mediocre and unhappy.

3) Get lucky

•  She was working, wasn't going to take a party, she ended up taking it, it was Madonna's kids party, which led to a lot of celebrity kid's party's.

4) keep going

Things are crappy, things are great, just keep going and doing the thing you love

5) Know what you want to say yes and say no to   Keep control of your product.  Don't sell control of your product to somebody else.  She had the opportunity to do so, she said no, they ended up licensing the music anyway, and she made a lot without selling out.

Here's a couple of Kindie albums to try if you like:

Hey, Rube! -- In which we sadly win a fish

AA was dying to go to the Carnival that we drove by a few days ago, so my wife and I up and took him to the carnival today.

The #carnival in # yonkers (apologies for sideways video) vine.co/v/bUt0uFh9iAJ
— Adam (@kafclown) April 20, 2013

It was a pretty good fair, as far as it goes, with a lot of rides, and a lot of midway, and not too crowded.  AA doesn't like a lot of rides, but he loves the bumper cars. (He went on them twice!)

Here's a pretty good  9 second video of my wife and son on the bumper cars.


Overall he was pretty rapturous about it.  He wanted to play some of the carnival games, and I didn't want to (As a guy who knows more than a little bit about it, I would rather take $5 and buy something, rather than spend $5 to win the chance to walk away with a $2 item.  Or as a friend of mine might say, "There's two kinds of people-- people who play carnival games, and people who run carnival games.  We are the kind of people who RUN carnival games.")

And by the way, carnivals are expensive!  $4 per person for ADMISSION, then $21 for 22 tickets, which bought us 2 rides on the bumper cars, 2 walk-throughs of a funhouse, and I think that was it.  Then there were snacks ($9 for a popcorn and a candy apple) and then another $10 in carnival games.  Oh yeah, and $1 for street parking, which meant we had to do everything in an hour (because there's NO RE-ENTRY)  That was a quick $50!

At any rate, there was a win a fish game, and I definitely did not want to let him play that, and somehow my wife said yes, and he actually got a ball in the bowl and he won a fish.  The most expensive goldfish in the history of man.

So now we are stuck with a fish, which means having to buy fish food, and a net, and a filter or something, and wait until he jumps out of the bowl, dies, gets eaten by the cat, or some other horrible fate.

  AA wanted to call him Fishie, but we refused.  He's got a little moustache, so I was pushing Groucho, but I had also suggested BUMPER, since he liked the Bumper cars so much, and he agreed.

So we now have Bumper the Fish.  My son is very happy and proud, and I am proud but not so happy. I am not a big fan of fish, and with the cat, our travel, and the general propensity of goldfish,

I do not have a good feeling about this.

UPDATE: 4/23/13:

As predicted, the fish has died. The fish is no more. He has ceased to be. He's expired and gone to meet his maker. He's a stiff. Bereft of life, he rests in peace. He's pushing up daisies, his metabolic processes are now history. He's off the twig. He's kicked the bucket, He's shuffled off this mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. THIS IS AN EX-FISH.

On the plus side, these last two days were probably the happiest days of his life.

We are not going to replace the fish, at least until the NEXT carnival.

The fish is dead.  Long Live the Fish.

(The very sad life of a carnival fish vine.co/v/bUtYP9g3bQq
— Adam (@kafclown) April 20, 2013

First T-ball game, if you can call it a game.

Our team is the WASHERS.  We play the cleanest game in town!

(Although I'm not sure if you can actually call it a game when there are no outs, everybody bats, and no one is keeping score. )

Nevertheless it was a fair amount of fun, and we'll be doing it again.  My son is of course the most talented of a very talented lot.

There is so much that you take for granted when you think about baseball that T-ball kids do NOT take for granted. (And sometimes for comical relief)

Such as:

• While doing drills, running the bases, or other things that are part of a team, having your mom or dad run with you or hold your hand is not cool.
• 
  
• When the ball is hit, the base runner should run.  On the base path, not towards the ball, towards the outfield, or in place.
• 
  
•  When you hit the ball, you run to first.  Do not take your bat with you.  
• 
  
•  When the ball is hit, the person who is nearest the ball should field the ball, not everybody converge on one spot and fight each other for the ball.
• 
  
•  You need to tag the base.  With your feet.
• 
  
• Positions in the outfield is pretty much useless in this game.  There's the inner infield, the infield, and the outer infield.  Players are positioned in rough semi-circles around the batter.

I ended up being the second base coach (for both teams), and developed a little spiel, that I share for future second base coaches (or my hall of fame entry)

Hi what's your name?
Okay, when the batter hits the ball, you are going to run to third base.  See that coach over there?  (Waves) that's third base.  When the batter hits it you run.  If he hits the T, or swings and misses, don't run!
Now to get ready to run, put your foot like this, pointing towards third, and leave the other one on the base.  Bend your knees.
No, the other way around, so you can see the batter.  Good.
You got it?  Good.
Hey First Base!  You are running to me!

Rinse. Wash.  Repeat.

 

We play Saturday Mornings next to the Spuyten Duyvil library, if you have the urge to cheer us on.

You are allowed to bring coffee!

Adventures With Ezra Jack Keats at Tada Theatre! April 20-May 19

I've recently become the Arts and Cultural Organizer/Coordinator for the NYC Dads Group.

 It's a group that I've belonged to for four years, and it's a great group of guys with over 750 member dads who get together two or three times a week. (Sometimes even more!)  I'll be helping to organize cultural activities for Dads to attend.

 (So if you are a cultural organization, and you'd like to get involved with a bunch of great dads, you should contact me!)


The first event I'm organizing is an outing to TADA! Theatre. Since 1984, TADA! has been creating high-quality musical theater productions performed by talented kids for family audiences while at the same time providing kids with the opportunity to harness their inherent energy, build their self-assurance and realize their true potential through the unique collaborative art form that is musical theater. Through TADA!'s high-quality work, young people gain confidence and learn commitment, responsibility, communication and teamwork...skills that are critical to their success both in school and in life.

Kids from TADA! perform in
Adventures With Ezra Jack Keats!

TADA! has been awarded with a Drama Desk award for their unique contribution to NY Theatre (they are the only Youth Theatre to have won that award.)

The show we are going to see is ADVENTURES WITH EZRA JACK KEATS.   The show consists of two original musicals based on the works of beloved children's illustrator and author Ezra Jack Keats.
In case you don't know, Keats is the author of a number of classic kids books, most memorably THE SNOWY DAY.

All shows at TADA! are performed by kids for family audiences.  (They are usually written and directed by professional musicians and directors)

Apt. 3 is a dance theater piece where the sound of a saxophone music somewhere behind closed doors sends Sam and Ben snooping through their tenement halls. There is also an adult character played by Brad Landers.

Who: TADA! Youth Theater What: Adventures from Ezra Jack Keats: Where: 15 West 28th Street 2nd floor When: Weekend matinees April 19-May 19 How: www.tadatheater.com, or call 212-252-1619 x5

Part two is Maggie and the Pirate, the story of Maggie, her friends, her sister, her pet cricket and a pirate. Maggie’s pet cricket has gone missing and all that is left is a note saying: “THE PIRATE WAS HERE!” A wild adventure ensues.




Schedule: Saturdays and Sundays 2pm and 4pm April 19th - May 19th.
Running Time: 1 hour with a small pause in between the two pieces.

We are collaborating with TADA! and have a special ticket deal running for Dads in the dads group.  If you want to know more, you should join our meetup group!  http://www.meetup.com/New-York-City-Dads-Meetup-Group/

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