<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething Just Like This<\/a>\u201d by Coldplay and The Chainsmokers blasted through the car speakers as my dad drove me to practice. \u201cEverything Now<\/a>\u201d by Arcade Fire came before and multiple songs by The Killers would come after.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t hear these songs without thinking of my dad.<\/p>\n This was our routine for years, playing the same playlist and skipping the same songs on our way to any soccer practice or game. Those songs have become ingrained in my brain, not because I was going to play the sport I loved, but because one of my biggest supporters sat in the driver\u2019s seat.<\/p>\n My dad was integral to my sports journey. He coached my youth basketball, football and baseball teams; the last two were almost all boys, but he had a way of never making me feel excluded. He would take me early to practice to work on catching fly balls and he taught me to throw so I could pitch when kid pitch \u2014 kids pitching instead of coaches \u2014 began. He would take me to the YMCA on the weekends to shoot hoops in the gym with my brother. He was my father but he was also my coach. He had a way of making me feel like a part of the team without feeling different from the rest of the kids. He found the perfect balance of being both a father and a coach, which made my childhood experience with athletics virtually perfect.<\/p>\n