Go Team

If losing builds character, well, my son's baseball team was oozing it last spring, with only 1 win all season. It was hard not to feel bad for the kids, who played hard and seemed confused by all the games that slipped away in the last inning or two. Still, there were highlights from a parent's perspective, and most of them involved shows of support between team members. Sportsmanship, after all, is easy when you're winning, not so much when you can't get a break.

A hunt for kid-friendly sportsmanship tips turned up this advice from kidzworld.com:

~"Show up on time to practice, work hard, and listen."

~"If you lose, don't freak out, and don't be a whiner. Don't blame it on the refs [or] your teammates. Think about what you can do to play better..."

~"If you win big, don't show off or rub the other team's face in it. It's fun to celebrate a victory, but don't overdo it."

~"Be willing to sit out so other [team members] can get a chance to play -- even if you think you're a better player. Don't whine to your coach about not playing enough while the game is still going on. [Wait until] after the game [to ask] what you can do to get some more playing time."

~"Always cheer for your teammates, even if you're losing bad. You may be able to inspire a comeback."

~"Don't argue with the ref or the ump. Even if they got the call totally wrong, don't worry about it. Bad calls are usually made against both sides, and things will even out."

Competitive sports are a learning experience, sure, but sportsmanship makes them fun. If every kid, coach & parent were to take a moment, find the most courteous kid on the field, and commit to following his or her example, everyone really would win.

Deja-Vu Hero

image: CBS

First Reese Ronceray, now Logan Hearn -- heroes under 10 who saved even younger kids from drowning.

Two-year-old Brendan Hearn might have died last month in his family's pool without the quick response of Logan, his 9-year-old brother. Mom Tabitha called 911 and started CPR, but Logan (who apparently had taken lifeguard lessons) felt she was doing it wrong and "kind of told me just to move out of the way," said Tabitha. He continued CPR "like it should be done," she said, "and it was working!"

"To have that compusure...that patience, you know, is just amazing at that age," added dad Brent Hearn in an "Early Show" interview. Amen!

Staying Power

image: printliberation.com

Covering so many kids who've taken a charitable idea and run with it, I'd almost started to think all it takes is caring, creativity, and a little elbow grease. An email this weekend from two teens reminded me of one more prerequisite: perseverance.

When high schoolers Henry Dyke and Casey Karnes set out this summer to collect hygiene supplies for their homeless peers in Chicago, they started by asking upscale city hotels for donations -- soon learning these businesses "were not all that interested in helping two teens from [the suburbs]."  They cast their net wider and started phoning, faxing, emailing and visiting suburban stores, congregations, and inviduals. The result? The two met their goal and were able to deliver to the Night Ministry 199 complete hygiene packs, plus $150 in leftover monetary contributions. If at first you don't succeed...    

Make Art, Save Art

That's a campaign DoSomething.org kicked off this month with partners HP and AMD. Students who create and share "an awesome PC wallpaper" can win $5,000 and 5 laptops for their school art program, plus a $1,000 scholarship. Go here for details.

Tech Titan

A computer-obsessed 16-year-old may not sound all that unusual, but how about one who has channeled his passion into programs that protect the planet and help kids learn? That would be Alex Lin.

Not content just with the computer donation and refurbishment program he built in his hometown of Westerly, R.I., Alex created computer centers worldwide, providing 300 computers so far to students in the United States and abroad. Under his leadership, media centers have blossomed in Sri Lanka, Mexico, Cameroon, Kenya, and the Philippines, along with the U.S.

The adage "charity begins at home" isn't lost on him, either. Alex finds time somehow to help his 11-year-old sister, Cassandra, on a project that recycles used cooking oil into biofuel, which in turn is used to provide heating assistance to low-income families.

"Computers open an entire world of opportunities," Alex told ParentDish. Kudos to him for sharing that world with peers.

(photo: odemagazine.com)

Yard Work

Yard sales and summer go together like ice cream & sprinkles, and what a great way for kids to earn money for their favorite child-serving organizations. That's what 11-year-old Allieanna Pierson did at her Alton, Ill., home. Piggybacking on her successful collection of coloring books and other art supplies (plus Beanie Babies -- always a hit) for young patients at St. Jude's Children's Resarch Hospital, Allieanna gathered belongings she was ready to part with and set up shop last month. Shoppers were encouraged, too, to drop off new coloring books, crayons and other supplies, along with cash donations for St. Jude's. A post-sale trip to deliver collected goods and donations with her aunt and grandmother was Allieanna's first trip to Memphis. "She did it all herself," mom Tanya McGee told the local paper. "She's always got something on her mind."

(Photo: The Telegraph)

The Case for Cartoons

"Absorbent and yellow and porous"...and educational? Arr, matey, that he is. When New Jersey 8-year-old Reese Ronceray saved a 5-year-old from drowning last month at a party for families of kids on their school bus route, he was replicating something he'd seen on "Spongebob Squarepants."

Andrew Gentile, 5, had wandered into a man-made lake and begun struggling when he discovered he couldn't touch its floor. His mom plunged in to help but panicked when she couldn't find the bottom, either. "I just knew how to react; I jumped in," Reese told the local paper. "The hardest part was when we both went under, getting us back up to the surface."

No medical attention was needed, luckily, and the school held a day in Reese's honor. "He was an angel to me," said Andrew's mom.