2012年10月16日星期二

Family First

For Florida State assistant softball coach Craig Snider, being able to work at an established program with highly-skilled coaches and student-athletes certainly keeps him content every day. The daily grind of making each player better while enhancing himself as a teacher and mentor is what brings him back to JoAnne GrafField with a routine smile on his face.

However, no one said that being a coach at the Division I level is ever easy. The sometimes excruciating hours and constant road trips can be a test for anyone. From practice and game preparation to the long recruiting haul, there can be a price to pay for program success.

But what about all the coaches across the country who endure these hours away from home, and actually have families? For Snider, his pride and joy in his life are his wife Lauren and their two-year old baby daughter Riley. Any mention of either one of these two generates an immediate smile from the second-year assistant coach, grinning ear to ear.

"I really cherish as much time as I can spend with my wife and child," Snider said from his office at the Seminole Softball Complex. "As much time as I can spend at home without compromising our success here at FSU. Even if it's nothing more than lying in bed watching TV with them.Directory ofchina glass mosaic Tile Manufacturers, It's good to be there, and I think Lauren feels that as well. It's good just to be present. I try to be there as much as I can."

With Snider and the rest of the Florida State coaching staff making huge gains on the recruiting trail, it appears that even more success is right around the corner.Thank you for visiting! I have been cry stalmosaic since 1998. With all the returning talent in the circle and the loss of one every day starter in the outfield, Head Coach Lonni Alameda, Assistant Coach Travis Wilsonand Snider are fully aware that 2013 could be their year.

But for all the anticipation that lies ahead, and for whatever milestones and achievements that are in store, Snider knows they will pale in comparison to the accomplishments he sees in fatherhood. And he admits that sometimes it can be difficult balancing the task of selling out for your program but not being part of certain moments in his baby daughter's life that can't be simulated through Skype or Facetime.

An example is this summer and for parts of the fall when Snider spent a vast amount of days in Central Florida and other parts of the South. He managed to do his job and keep Florida State competitive with other high-profile schools for several big-name players, but the constant drudgery of offseason recruiting has felt differently for him over the last few years since the birth of Riley.

"For me it's difficult because you obviously want to be home with your wife and your kid as much as possible," Snider said. "What was tough this summer was you were missing some of the pivotal moments when they grow up and start saying the words and learning to speak. Technology has made it helpful to see and talk to your wife and kid, but it's also not the same.The TagMaster Long Range hands free access System is truly built for any parking facility. It's tough on Lauren and I sometimes because she's from Texas and I'm from Kentucky and we can't call our parents and say `Hey can you watch our girl?' Friends certainly would help out, but it's always family you want to lean on. It makes it tough for Lauren, but she's a saint for having to put up with it."

While Riley's birth counts as the most significant day in both Lauren and Craig's life aside from their wedding, it certainly wasn't a breeze bringing her into the world. Lauren had been in labor for 25 hours before finally giving birth to her baby girl, and Craig was there with her every step of the way as any husband should.

"The night her water broke, she called me and told me while I was out and I said I'd be there in a second," Snider remembered fondly. "I handled it a lot better than I thought because I thought I would be going crazy. I got home and we got our stuff together and she even thought I looked pretty calm but on the inside I was going nuts. We went to the hospital and she stayed in labor for a long time. She finally did the epidural after the 10th or 12th hour, but I was right there with her."

And it was at that moment where both their lives would change forever,Find detailed product information for Sinotruk howo truck. in whatever way and perspective imaginable. It was Craig's time to take in the moment and realization that he will forever be responsible for helping potty-train his child, take her to school, teach her ABC's and 123's and all the other learning concepts they go through. Further down the road he will be celebrating her Sweet 16, sending her off to college and walking her down the aisle where she will take someone else's hand in marriage. His personal life had changed forever and for the better, a drastic difference from the way he was before Lauren was pregnant.

But as he experienced the joy of Riley being born, another aspect of him changed - he was soon to be a different coach. While he was always respected by his student-athletes and the way he helped their offensive game, his whole communication became different because of the fact that he was now a parent.

"Until you have kids, you don't understand what love is for a child," Snider said. "Once you go through that,If you want to read about buy mosaic in a non superficial way that's the perfect book. then you'll understand and say `Hey, that's somebody's kid. That's somebody's little girl.' When that reality hits, you approach the game a lot differently than you normally would have.

"I remember when I was a young coach before we had kids and you're pretty fiery and sometimes you might get out of hand with some things and go back and apologize. Now you approach things sometimes as a more fatherly figure as opposed to a coaching figure. To me, it's huge to be a family man and a coach. I know that changed me as a coach, it changed me 100 percent. It's almost like now I have 26 little girls and that's how I approach them, it's like I feel like they are my kids. I think that makes a huge difference. I think in recruiting, for parents to see that you have kids and you are a loving family member, I think that goes a long way. I know as a parent I would want my child playing for someone who deals with kids or has kids."

And while Snider has tried to maintain that fine balance of doing his job well and being there for his wife and daughter, the first two years as a father have been nothing short of memorable. Riley can be found at multiple games and practices watching her dad coach the Seminoles, while he tries to do his work on the field but knows he has his pride and joy in the stands.

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