Diary Series: Mike Witcoskie, Asst. Coach - Rider

I find the hardest thing to do in this business is properly balance your work and family life, especially when your team is not playing well. This year has put a huge pressure on us as it is the first year we are below a .500 winning percentage. When you are losing it is hard to not become engrossed in the game.

All of the sudden there is more recruiting to be done because you need to put more good players into your program, you watch the film from your own games a few more times trying to find "the answer" and naturally you watch your opponents tapes much closer and more often trying to exploit any advantage. No coach sleeps well after a loss and add a few extra losses in and you find yourself all but exhausted when you walk into the office in the morning. Then you stay an extra half hour or hour in the office and now you are only ever home for a few hours at night to sleep.

This has been a battle for me this year because my wife is four months pregnant. The biggest dilemma for me is this is the most exciting time in my personal life and the most stressful and frustrating at work. For you Howard Stern fans it’s the opposite of Baba Booey's "Right now my work life is at a nine, but my personal life is at a two.”

After being on the road recruiting or playing for 12 out of the first 22 days of December, my wife and I were looking forward to spending three days over Christmas together. We played at Monmouth on Thursday, December 22 and since we didn't play again until December 30th Coach Dempsey made a deal with the players. If we won, we had the December 26 off too for a total of four days off. Trust me when I say Coach Dempsey is a great guy to coach under, but the players have no idea how lucky they are to play for a coach like him. We won the game at Monmouth and our guys couldn't have been happier. For that matter so were the coaches. We got some extra family time around the holidays which I know is rare.

Christmas was a lot of fun. My wife and I spent it at my parents’ house with my sister, her husband and my one and a half year-old niece. It truly puts life into perspective when you are upset about losing some games and your niece walks up to you and asks you to read her favorite book to her.  Just hanging around the house watching TV and talking about “the good old days” was a lot of fun and very therapeutic at the same time.

After Christmas I was right back at it, going to post-Christmas tournaments and playing our own games. My wife and I spent New Year’s Eve together as well as New Years Day... and I will make sure to plan a few nights at home as well along the way.

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