Juggling a Multi-Athlete Household with Ken and Kim O'Donnell

[00:00:00] John Boruk: Hello again, and welcome into another episode of Raising a Champion. I'm John Boruk. Thanks for joining us. So once again we are finally, we have reached six different continents. We have been downloaded on six different continents out there except for Antarctica. So as soon as we start doing some dog sledding, then maybe we'll hit Antarctica as well.

But it is good to see that we're finally getting around and you're making it happen by spreading the word saying good things about us. And by doing that, you're subscribing to the show. Leaving a review, doing all of those good things, and you're the ones that make it happen, but it's all, it's fun to watch the growth of this show.

We started in September of 2022 we haven't been doing it that long. But here we are now four or five months into it and the growth is really taking off. With that said about a month ago we had Hannah Prince, who was the head coach head field hockey coach for St. Joseph's University.

Our guest on this episode is Ken and Kim O'Donnell. They're from Montgomeryville, [00:01:00] Pennsylvania. And what's impressive as you listen to them, they have five division one athletes that they have produced over the years, all girls. And all five of them field hockey players. And I'm gonna go through the list real quick and you guys, you can correct me if I'm wrong here.

The oldest Casey went to James Madison, correct? Brianna Penn State? Correct. Erin went to James Madison. She's now transferring to West Chester. Correct. Carrie and Riley, I think they're twins. Yes. Correct. Yep. And they are going to Penn State, but they're still in high school. Correct. Welcome to the show, by the way.

How you doing, John? Yeah. Happy to be here. Yeah. No it's good. Wow. Five division one athletes. Did you guys plan this over the years? Was this all part of the major plan to have Division one athletes? And I find it very interesting. To have five kids play sports? Rarely do they all, would they all play the same?

You may have a basketball player, a football player here, [00:02:00] but they all play field hockey. So how did this come to be? 

[00:02:04] Kim O'Donnell: It's crazy. No, we did not plan this at all. Actually someone just this past weekend said to me, oh my gosh. Wow, do you realize how crazy that is? That all five are playing hockey at school?

And I just looked at her like I, I guess not. I guess I don't think we really just sit there and say, this is amazing. I think it just is what we do. I think it's just our life and we just do it every day and we were just fortunate. Our kids work hard and they each, strive to do this.

And we got there and I guess looking back now that person said it to me, I think, wow. That, I guess that is really amazing. But no, I did not really think of it like that. But. We are fortunate. Yeah, definitely did.

[00:02:46] John Boruk: Did you play field hockey? Is that how they drew an interest to the sport.

 [00:02:52] Ken O'Donnell: That's funny, John. I don't wanna cut her off, but I used to go to our games, and they played on grass. And this was at Penn State Abington? Yes. And [00:03:00] which is an Abington campus now for Penn State. And I'm like, What the hell's going on out here? Like the ball would stop. They wouldn't have quick starts and it was just really tough to follow the game ball.

Hits the girl's foot. It's the other team's ball, and, but it was so you knew that, but you looked good in the skirt. Yeah. You didn't, yeah. I like that girl. . She's moving out there, but you really, you had no concept of the sport, how you played. 

[00:03:24] Kim O'Donnell: And it's way different now than it was then. It was, like he said, it was on grass.

I played in high school just to do something with my friends. It wasn't like a big sport. It was like why don't we all just do field hockey together? And we did. And then when we got to games just got in a group of girls that were all wanting to do it again. It wasn't hard to make that team, it wasn't like a very popular sport at the time.

But yeah, he we dated, yeah, we were 18. So he did used to come and watch me and the ball would go into a ditch and it would be like the game would just stop. And I was like, it went into a hole. Like now they, they play on these [00:04:00] different surfaces. They have the turfs, the water, water based turf, based turfs, which is a ball, is so quick and. They can do so many tricks. And then the indoor is, when like a basketball courts, type of flooring and it's just really quick. So it's just a totally different game than it was then. So I wouldn't even say I played for hockey, honestly, it and it was very like the level. It was, not the levels they are now, but yeah.

[00:04:25] John Boruk: Yeah. Ken, did you try to push them into, to other sports and because a lot of the parents and. People that we talk to are, don't like to be sports specific. Want to get out there, do a winter sport, do a spring sport, find something to do in the summer. Did you try to point them in a different direction 

[00:04:44] Ken O'Donnell: Not necessarily a different direction. Field hockey I don't think was as big as say a soccer or softball and stuff like that. Swimming, so all our girls pretty much started out playing soccer at a a rec league . And it's like they say when they're little, it's just the ball's here and you just got the green team and the [00:05:00] orange team.

Yeah, it's like herding cats. Yeah, exactly. You've been there. Oh yeah. So that's where they all started and then we encouraged 'em to get into sports. They got into softball, but then I was this reminds me of Kim playing field hockey. It's so slow out there.

It was back when, you hit off the tee and it was just, kids were just learning this. Case was, Seven or eight years old, I wanna say. But then she got into soccer, got into swimming, and then everyone kind of followed suit, like Brianna followed, the same things Casey's were doing.

And then and then likewise with Erin and then the twins. And just been fortunate enough that they work hard, they play hard and have fun. That's the big, quote we use in the house is, if we're gonna go out there, you gotta have fun, but you gotta play hard. And with that you'll have a great time.

You know That's it. Yeah. 

[00:05:42] John Boruk: Explain kind of the differences and what makes each of these five girls so unique. I get a sense because they're all athletes and they all, they're all collegiate athletes. They all have a very highly competitive side to them, and probably one drives another that drives [00:06:00] another and it just plays, it plays, it permeates from one kid. To the other one, and they. Continuously find ways to challenge themselves. In fact I think it'd be interesting to get a game of, playing Scrabble or something at the O'Donnell house.

And seeing how competitive it would get between the family and the five girls.  

[00:06:16] Ken O'Donnell: It does get competitive pull out the cards. Rummy we're always, there's a game called Pit, I don't know, as a kid. Yeah. You grew up playing Pit, but you basically trade cards and so it's all seven of us at the table and we're all trying to win.

And you're just trading and it's almost like the stock exchange kind of thing,.but it's especially all the 

 [00:06:34] Kim O'Donnell: Yeah. Army me . He's knocking people over in the card game, . 

[00:06:38] John Boruk: But they do have that fire?

[00:06:40] Ken O'Donnell: They do. All of 'em. All of them. Yeah. All of 'em have that fire. And it's fun. I Casey and Bree were fortunate enough to play with each other at North Penn.

That's where they. And then Erin, was Erin able to play with Bree? I don't think so. I think they, they skipped one, went to college. One was a freshman in high school, but then Erin was able to play with the twins for two years. . Yeah. And that was really fun, like seeing Casey and [00:07:00] Bree out there at the same time and they complimented each other cuz they grew up together playing the sport.

So it was an advantage for them being on the same team. And that kind of filtered down with Aaron and the twins being out there at the same time cuz they would be on the same team and just all be forwards and. Which, play together basically on the field, on the offensive side of. Yeah they're very competitive and it's fun to see 'em out there.

Plus we only had to go to one game, , so it made our life a little bit easier. Cause you got Oh, yeah. You didn't have to wait for JV or you didn't have to wait for, junior high, maybe going over to one of them games. And we're constantly on the run with all the kids. We want to be there for 'em.

And as you were saying before, we jumped on like you were able to see. Your daughter's bocce game, I think you said, right? Yeah. So yeah, he, 

[00:07:39] John Boruk: just to give people some perspective, my daughter had a bocce game. I went straight from there to my son's basketball game and then came here, started re-recording the podcast on this night.

That just goes to show you, you gotta find a way to squeeze and sandwich everything into a very busy schedule. I'm sure, you weren't, have no idea when the kids were younger. How you, how in the world did [00:08:00] you juggle everything?   

[00:07:59] Ken O'Donnell:? I think, not to take this one, but like Kim was saying earlier, like when she was asked that question over the weekend by your friend, she really couldn't answer it because you're in the thick of it throughout, and we've been like this for what, like 15, 20 years.

[00:08:12] John Boruk: It's you don't constant, you don't running you don't know anything different.  

[00:08:14] Kim O'Donnell: Yeah. 

 [00:08:16] Ken O'Donnell: And it's a good thing. It was a great thing actually. I'm fortunate enough I work for a general contractor and he great boss, and I'm able to, if the kids are playing, he wants you there.

He wants you to see your kids and be there for 'em. We were fortunate enough throughout the years to be able to travel, at the college level with Case Bree pretty much make all their games except for the ones that were all the way out in Iowa, or stuff like that, right? 

[00:08:36] Kim O'Donnell: Yeah. And for a while I, I didn't work for a little bit, like once the, my third child was born, I did stop working. That would be Erin, right? That would be Erin number three. Erin, number three. I did start working for a little bit. But, so I really, when Casey was involved in things and Brianna, I guess they were eight and six when we had all five.

So we had five kids. The oldest was. At the time, 

[00:08:58] John Boruk: that's as tough as it got?

[00:09:00] Kim O'Donnell: So at that time I don't even quite remember it. We see a picture. I'm like how did we do that? Liketwins just all over the place. One's in their diaper running around and we're like, how did we get them to even their soccer games?

We don't even know. It was a fog, but, it's, we would just, they would just all go with me, he would still be at work. I'd be like, I'll meet you at the game, or I'm running here. I would just strap everyone in the car. Give them their cereal in the car or whatever it was, and we'd get there and, all climb up to the road and see them.

I think that's how we did it. And now, yeah, we both do work full-time now but we do still try our best. The neighbors laugh. Our car is just in, out, in, out, in, out. Now we have four cars here. 

[00:09:37] John Boruk: I was gonna say, here's what's interesting. You may not have been able to do this podcast over the last 20 years because you were always having to tote everybody around.

Exactly. Now everybody's got a car. Yes. Yes. Everybody can drive. Yes. Everybody can go to their own practice. Yes, exactly. Boys. It's easy. I'm sure you were like, I can't wait for this day. Absolutely. 

[00:09:55] Kim O'Donnell: Yeah. Yeah. It's definitely changed. Even just this year is the first time it [00:10:00] actually happened, cuz the twins are 17 now, so even up till last year they weren't allowed to drive by themselves.

Every night they have practice one night a week for field hockey in the winter at this time, and it's like from right after school and they don't get home till 10 o'clock. So it's one night, but it's long. It's a lot. So we had to take turns going up and you would just go to Costco, like you made that plan that when you were up there sitting there for that many hours, you just picked them up from school, you brought them food to eat in the car, and then you went and ran your errands or whatever you had to do.

It just you planned your life around that, knowing what their schedule was. Cuz you had to be the driver, for them. , but I think they appreciate it. They understand that it's a lot of work. Yeah. And, but they always, they love it. They, I think they would let us know if they didn't wanna do it anymore.

And they never would say, they never said that. And like you said, they do feed off for each other. I think they have, especially the twins, they've seen their sisters go through it and they see that [00:11:00] we all participate as a. Like, we all travel to Penn State and it's so much fun.

Like we've met some of our best friends there, as well as the kids meeting their best friends. We still have a family from JMU that comes to our Christmas Eve every year. That's great. That's how close they've become. And we still have a group chat with JMU parents. We still group chats with Penn State parents.

Like we try to still get together with them. So it's, it really has become a family thing. It's like our thing, like what we drive sometimes to these far places and we look at each other and we're like, this is what we do. like it. It's just part of our life and it's been fun 

[00:11:38] John Boruk: So Ken, Casey's the first daughter and she's going through it, and then you have Brianna who's two years younger.

I would have to think that starting out when you're going through this process that there's some trial and error things that you're like, yeah, we probably shouldn't have done that. Or, and then by the time you get to now Carry and Riley the two twins you [00:12:00] probably have it all figured out.

What did you learn early? To where you were able to perfect it as you, you kid three, four, and five came around. 

[00:12:07] Ken O'Donnell: You make it sound so easy, John . 

[00:12:10] John Boruk: Yeah, you I look at you guys. Yeah. And I think that you've made it so easy 

[00:12:13] Ken O'Donnell: You know what? I think it's just showing up, being there for your kids.

I really do. I think Like I, I love G now. I really like field hockey cause it's faster. As I was saying earlier, watching Kim back in the day was like watching paint dry. And now the sport has become so big and and it's so much fun to, to watch. It's almost like watching ice hockey at that level.

And I think what we've learned more is just try and find out where your kid wants to go and then pursue them colleges or them schools, and get out to them colleges to see, what's the surroundings, what's academically do they provide at each college, the majors are different, stuff like that.

And so think you do some camps, if you do, hey, this school looks really cool, get out to the. And, experience like a Saturday. Sometimes they have a two or three day clinic there, and you can get to [00:13:00] know the coaches, get to know the atmosphere and see how you like it.

And that would be my, recommendation to parents going through it. But Kim, correct me if I'm, was there any kind of structure we followed or anything, or it was just, I think they were just sponges off the older kids where it just was like a snowball effect I felt like.

With every kid they got better and better because they were around it earlier and earlier. Yeah. And I think the competition now more so than when Casey was in it. I believe that it's harder now if you get it in, get into the sport a little bit later. I think you're more disadvantaged cuz more kids are starting really young and they're really getting the the skills that they need.

The fundamentals, which I think is. in, in any sport. 

[00:13:37] John Boruk: And that's another question I was gonna ask you. . Now you've seen there's an eight year age difference between number one and four and five. , how much better has the athlete gotten. How much better is the training? Yeah. As a result of that.

And we talk about some of the, how much quicker the game is, but I'm sure just from the first child that you have to now the twins, just the big leaps because this is really, this is almost the [00:14:00] bread and butter of field hockey this area, this region. So many schools. Yep. In top 20 schools.

. How much better, what have you seen just from your first child that went through it? The twins and where they are now. 

[00:14:11] Ken O'Donnell: Yeah. It's grown. Just you go to these tournaments on the weekends and it's all year round. Cuz the indoor Kim mentioned too, they play on floor tiles or like a basketball surface indoor and it's a faster game and you're really practicing your stick skills and stuff.

And you go to some of these tournaments and like maybe an age group lower than the girls are in at this point. And you're like, oh my God, look at this girl . She's amazing. She must have been playing like when she was five, but the level I think has gone because I think it's become so much more.

What do you think? 

[00:14:38] Kim O'Donnell: I guess popular, I guess it would be like when Casey came to, to like it, she basically was just trying it out with a friend on a t-shirt league in our neighborhood. Really not knowing. too much about it herself. Like she was a swimmer and a soccer player, like Kenny was saying.

But she just started playing and realized that, she was pretty good at it and really liked it and was like, [00:15:00] wow this is cool. I'll, and so we tried out for a travel team in seventh grade. Like she was so old be trying out, and we were like, we don't even know what we're doing.

We're, I guess this is the next step. If she really likes it, let's try this, but now I think if you started seventh grade, you're a little more at a disadvantage than back then. Cause I think back then no one knew about it as much. So not, there's not a lot of people that were in those travel teams.

[00:15:25] John Boruk: The community was small and then it's is grown, the chat rooms, the information that's out there. Yes. 

[00:15:30] Kim O'Donnell: Yep. So more people are involved. And like he said, there's 8, 9, 10 year olds now that are really good cuz they've been playing so young where I think it was a little more unusual to play that when it was our older daughter's age, right?

Like our twins probably started that t-shirt league in first grade, and they like, again, it wasn't anything serious, but it got them to be like, wow, this is really fun. I really like this. And they still played soccer at the same time, cuz soccer was really where all their friends were. I feel like he was [00:16:00] a little alike.

They didn't really know too many people, but they thought it was cool what their sister was doing. So they played soccer and field hockey until field hockey became their more fun place to be and thing that they more accelerated at. And then they just steered in that direction, even though not still, not a lot of their friends were in that direction.

It wasn't as many, it wasn't as big of a a friend thing, but they became friends with the teams that they, were on. Yes, especially in high. , and then in their club teams they, they have friends. But it definitely has grown a lot where there's, I would say, many more people, the twins age, looking to go to college for it than at K.

[00:16:42] John Boruk: You had mentioned something that I found interesting was searching out the colleges that you're interested as opposed to perhaps waiting and seeing what colleges are interested in. Yes. 

[00:16:55] Ken O'Donnell: I think, good point. I think it's like with case. We were [00:17:00] like flattered that coaches were coming to us to say, Hey, look we would like your daughter to play field hockey here.

And we really didn't know much about it as Kim alluded to. And we were just like, okay, I guess we gotta start looking. And then and we loved the experience at James Madison. It was fantastic and we met a lot of friends there. With Bree she always wanted to go to Penn State, which was just, we felt like she hit the lottery ticket.

They approached her like, Hey we really want you. So that was awesome for us as well. And she knew she wanted to go there. She had to narrow it down to about three or four different colleges. And same thing with Erin. She narrowed it down to about three or four different colleges.

The twins. I they would always go with us to Penn State, which is funny. And it would be like, be in the car for three hours, get out, maybe tailgate for a half hour, and then right to the game's over, back to Bree's house or back in the car, go back home. They had never seen the campus. So when they're like, ah, we want you to come up, take a look at the campus.

They walked around the campus, they're like, this is absolutely beautiful. Yeah. I love it up here. This is where we want to go. It was a really cool experience and for all five kids. Like they, they, like you said, they're different. [00:18:00] They all knew where they wanted to go, and again, we're just so fortunate enough to be able to sit here and have them go to the places they want and that we want for 'em, 

[00:18:07] John Boruk: I'm sure there's parents out there, they're gonna listen to this episode. They're gonna say, okay, I would like for my daughter to follow in those footsteps. . So for somebody out there and maybe, their child may be 13, 14, 15, I don't know, they still have some high school, but if they want to gear up and they want to angle in that direction of playing in, give some pointers, give some, some just what you would say, here's a nice little guideline.

 Of what to expect and what you can do to position your daughter to where she is. She can play at that level? 

[00:18:39] Ken O'Donnell: Okay. You can take that . 

[00:18:42] Kim O'Donnell: I would say at this point they really proud to play year round, like getting to a club that plays in the fall, as they play in the fall and they also play in high school.

[00:18:53] John Boruk: And what year did that start for your girls? 

[00:18:56] Kim O'Donnell: The club. Probably U 12. They could start [00:19:00] U 12. Okay. 

[00:19:01] John Boruk: And it, and you guys didn't think that's too early to start playing year round? 

[00:19:05] Kim O'Donnell: So when they were U 12, they weren't as much year round at that age. Okay. They pretty much just did the indoor Okay at that.

And then they were still doing like soccer and like t-shirt leagues. So they weren't exclusively female hockey. They weren't exclusively at that time. No. And Casey still swam up until high school, like everyone did other sports. But I would say if you're looking for your, yeah, your child to go. Maybe the D one that you should be, I think you would have to be in a club because the clubs is what takes you to a lot of these showcases.

And that's where you would go. And the coaches come, a lot of coaches come to see these showcases. But if you're looking on your own we, I as Kenny had said, I the fact that your kid picks where they feel like. they would fit in well and make sure that the school has a major, or at least is a school that, a large school that has a lot of different choices and go to those camps specifically so that college coach can see [00:20:00] you.

Or at least if you're going to a big showcase, make sure that some of those coaches are going to be in attendance before you. , instead of spending all that money for a showcase and it maybe isn't the schools you were even interested in. 

[00:20:10] John Boruk: So you really have to do your homework into what showcases are.

You're gonna be able to actually showcase your child's talent to the right people. 

[00:20:18] Ken O'Donnell: To the right people. People. Yeah. Correct. And there's a lot of camps out there or showcases out there, and there's some indoors, right? Which would be then its usually in late February.

And some coaches will go there, some won't because it's indoor and it's not necessarily outdoor, and it's an outdoor sport. For the college fall. But yeah, just educate yourself with, where they want to go and then, try and sign 'em up and be there.

I think it's key for them to be diverse. Like lacrosse, our kids played lacrosse. The twins and Bree were big lacrosse players. And they still, they're gonna play for the school this year. Lacrosse, it's in the spring. But I think that hand eye coordination I is good for field hockey and lacrosse.

And there's a lot of girls that play lacrosse and field hockey at the same time. And I think it's just good. I think conditioning, it helps you. And like I [00:21:00] said, the hand eye coordination I think is valuable in both sports. So it'll play that. And then they'll just play field hockey, I guess in college.

We would think it'd be great if they played lacrosse too. That . I'm kidding. I'm kidding.  

[00:21:10] Kim O'Donnell: Lacrosse is a fun sport too. Yeah. Yeah. They just, they did, I guess by. Sophomore year, we talked to 'em about trying to pick one or the other to focus a little more on especially with twins, club sports can be expensive, like Oh, so you have two of them?

 [00:21:27] John Boruk: Do you ever just sit around and I'm sure you do, yeah. On Scratch Pad. How much money have we put as it cost? For you guys to, to play field hockey, all these years is an into college. 

[00:21:39] Ken O'Donnell: and I'll be saying, what are you doing over there? And she'll crumble it up. She won't let me sit. Cause you're spot on. It's a lot of money. It's a lot of money. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of travel, A lot of time. Oh yeah. Think about it.   

[00:21:49] John Boruk: Yeah. And I just, a tournament in Virginia or wherever you go. you factor. Food and hotels and [00:22:00] gas. And tolls, right? Yeah. If there's equipment and whatever. Easily a thousand dollars. Yeah. In fact, that's your starting point, and then you can work your way up there. It's depending on how, how much parting the parents Yeah, exactly. You said it, John . I know how it goes. I know how it works.  

[00:22:16] Ken O'Donnell: A funny story is a couple years ago, the Big 10 tournament was in Iowa and we were gonna fly out there, but you gotta take two planes and you then you gotta get a car to get to, and we're like, Let's just drive.

So I drove out there where? Yeah. Iowa City, Iowa, yes. 

[00:22:32] John Boruk: Wow, 15 hours. See, lemme see. You probably make it to Louisville, Kentucky in one day if you're lucky. And then stay the night. And then we made it to 

[00:22:40] Ken O'Donnell: We made it to South Bend, Indiana. Okay. And then we, the only reason why we stopped, we hit some ice on the way and stuff.

We're like, Hey, let's just park it and then we'll drive the, I think it was another four, four and a half hours to Iowa City and Penn State was slated to, I think there were two, they were gonna win. They were playing Ohio State the first game. They lose, Ohio State showed up, they lose.

And the next day we thought [00:23:00] we were up there for the whole weekend. We'll hang out, this will be fun. The next day we're in our car driving back together. Other 15. Yeah, 15 hours. But it was a funny story, it was good times. . 

[00:23:10] John Boruk: Yeah. I know that you probably throw a lot of the credit back on the girls, but there has to be something that the two of you take a little bit of credit for, whether it was instilling a good attitude whether it was a work ethic I don't know.

But there but I would have to think if you're going to produce five division one athletes, that there's something that at least the parents can point to and say, yeah, we can take a little bit of credit for. 

[00:23:34] Ken O'Donnell: I'll take it all. Kim? . . Nah I, you know what? I don't know what that is, John, but I do know that we have a very close family.

I, like this past weekend Bree still home from break and so was Aaron and Riley was playing a tournament on Saturday, or Carrie was on Saturday and get 'em mixed up, and they all came, different cars and they wanted to be there for, same thing for Sunday's tournament too, unfortunately, not unfortunate, but she was coaching, she [00:24:00] coaches her old club team, which is cool. So she's very active with field hockey, even though that she's moved on. She's an occupational therapist now. But she finds the time to be there and I just think it's family. I think it's support.

I think it's I don't know, just being there for him, like showing up, like I said like maybe. They're not playing, but you're there. They see you and I think by them seeing you, when they do get out on that field, they're given 110%. And, they're would think that you want to add to that, Kim?

Or just, it's not I was a super athlete or you were a super athlete. 

[00:24:27] John Boruk: No, but maybe you were a disciplinarian. I don't know how much of that. Put there. And were they always supportive of each other? Did you sometimes have to say, knock it off, stop, maybe, maybe one of the girls was hard on, on another girl and you had to reign one of them in a little bit. You ever remember that happening? I don't know. 

[00:24:46] Kim O'Donnell: They, right now it's easier because like some of them are, and they can just come back and see their younger sisters play. When they were younger, we just drug them there to watch because we had to we were all going to the same place.

I think like you always say [00:25:00] that one quote, I would say have fun or work hard. Kick butt. Have fun. That, that, that's what we say when they go out the door. We want you to work hard, but have fun at the same time. When they come off. I think we've learned to, even though it's easy to wanna criticize right away or say oh my God, why weren't you there at the post when the ball was there?

And I think over the years we have learned to let them talk first and see how they think it went. Like before you say something, cuz usually they know they messed up. So you saying it to them is just gonna get them more upset, so why even say it like they're already harder on themselves than you are gonna be on them.

And it usually will just cause tears or, so we just “All right, good game.” Get in the car. We just come, learn to just let it go for a little bit. And every kid's different. Some of them want that feedback right away. Some, again, kind go, all right, what did you watch?

What did you just think when I did this? Do you think that was the right move? They want that feedback. And then others are like, . We [00:26:00] know. Do not talk to them right now, . Oh yeah. And maybe not until the next day. . They need to process it a little bit if they had a bad game. 

[00:26:07] John Boruk: Dad, did you always understand that? I think with women, their emotions may be more like 

[00:26:12] Ken O'Donnell: this. You see where my hair's at John, right? By the way, 

[00:26:15] John Boruk: the hair at then 

[00:26:16] Ken O'Donnell: and it is great. Yes. Yes, . Yeah, like Kim said, to her point, like maybe in the beginning it'd be like, Hey, and they would look at you and I'd just be like, all right, just change the subject.

And then, you get home, you're eating dinner and they'll bring it back up to you and they'll explain, you know what, dad, I should have been at the post at this or, and I should have done this. And I don't know why I shot that. I had somebody open on the other side and you just, you with age comes knowledge they say.

So I've learned that over the years to just, take a backseat. Just they know what they did wrong and and they'll fix it and they're competitors and they'll go at it the next game and turn it around. It's a lot of fun watching the growth of each one of 'em and as you said, they're. They're processing the game long after the game is already over. Exactly. 

John Boruk: Yep. And saying, [00:27:00] and I always say, and we talk about this in the hockey realm, is the last thing I want to do is the moment that they get in the car is let's talk about the game that you just played.

Yeah. And especially if it's you're on the losing end, let's talk about, because then it's going to be ingrained in their head that, oh geez, I know that when I'm getting in dad's. He's, he is gonna mention the game and Right. That's why don't, I typically don't even say anything. Yeah.

Because you don't just want it to be an inside to be a safe haven. Yeah. It's interesting. And then I, he had a game this weekend where they were up and then he was out on the ice and a player came down and scored and said, Hey, they said we're able to watch a replay of the game.

They have cameras up there and, okay. And I said, Hey, I just wanna show you. Play where? Guy came down and you were out on the ice and they score. He goes, oh, I know the coach talked about that. So we're good . I said, okay, alright, we're good. Alright. We're good. Yeah. And that was it. That's great. That's, you knew.

 [00:27:57] Ken O'Donnell: Yeah. He knew. Yeah. That's funny. Yeah. Yeah. I think nine [00:28:00] times outta 10, if not 10. yeah. They know they, they did a mistake or they know when they did well too, and. It's fun to see their different reactions, but the growth is just huge throughout the years that we've seen. And I feel like it carries over into, I see it in Casey, our oldest, just, with her work ethic as an occupational therapist and she brings that home with her, she's working at the table.

I'm thinking, all right, me and mama went the crazy one, still working at the kitchen table. She's finishing up a report. They've 

[00:28:23] John Boruk: learned from you. They've seen, Hey, the work never stops, right? Yeah. If I'm eating, and then did you ever have the quiet piece? Seven member family dinner.Yeah. How many of those were there?  

[00:28:33] Ken O'Donnell: Those never really quiet . Not ever quiet. 

 [00:28:36] Kim O'Donnell: Not in this house, no. Yeah, we do nail a little bit more than we did. No, I would say when we were younger it was fair. We were always running all over the place and we were always in the car or he was with somebody. I was with somebody else.

Lately we've been together more, which is crazy. Yeah. Like we'll be the older parents now sometimes if we're at the twins things and there'll be single parents there and they're like, how did JS come together? And we're like, we're looking around just laughing. [00:29:00] Like we've been there, done that, and now we are able to go away together and enjoy it sometimes.

Yeah. 

[00:29:06] Ken O'Donnell: A quick story that, it just brings to memory here is you ever hear of the Hempfield tournament for soccer? It's usually right around Thanksgiving. And Kim and I were fortunate enough to have Bruce Springsteen tickets. Love Bruce went there, I think it was at the Wachovia Center, and then we had to drive out to Lancaster the next day.

But, you're, it's a big party. It's a great night. So we're at Bree's soccer game, I believe it is and we would always count heads, I was just like, had to make sure we had five. And so Kim's at a at the sideline. I'm over across the way and she's counting heads and she's realizes that there's only four and she's oh my God, here's, and she's, and all of a sudden like game's going on, she's gun. And I'm like, what? Where's Riley? I said, you're holding her. She never counted her. 

[00:29:52] John Boruk: Oh, I thought we were gonna have a home alone scene. No. 

[00:29:53] Ken O'Donnell: But it was everybody, all the parents. It was hysterical. 

 [00:29:56] Kim O'Donnell: And I'm just like, just going to show you how tired you are sometimes. [00:30:00] That you just keep going and Yeah, it was probably, we. Been late before at the Bruce and it was probably like a 7:00 AM start and Oh, it absolutely was. We probably didn't go to the bed till four and then, cause we were younger and then I'm holding one and probably not even realizing.

 [00:30:14] John Boruk: So where is it? Thanks for letting me up. Yeah. , right? Yeah, 

[00:30:18] Kim O'Donnell: okay. Yeah, I'm holding her . 

[00:30:21] John Boruk: How much was sacrificed? With all of all, with the sports and the girls and tournaments and stuff, how much did they sacrifice, whether that was school dances and proms and just that sort of regular school life that maybe, because if you're doing it for one girl, you gotta do it for another and maybe they come along.

I don't know. I don't know how you would, how you juggled all of that. 

[00:30:43] Kim O'Donnell: Yeah, I would say, It's a lot of the work and sometimes that they're friends that don't even realize how much work it is, on the side. Like they'll say like even now oh guys, you guys are so lucky. You're done. You already know your college.

But they don't [00:31:00] realize how much work that was to be able to pick your college as a sophomore. You gotta, you have to be visiting colleges, you have to be emailing coaches. You are going to all. Sports things where they're having sleepovers and they're, just laying around or going out with friends all day and they're at practice all day or they're at tournaments all day or, and we instilled in them younger if you have something in the morning, you're not doing a sleepover because this is your thing and you need to be the one getting up in the morning.

And we made them pack their own bag and put it at the front door. That was our one big thing we always did because especially when they were younger. I'd be like, look, you're not going out all night sleeping over and then packing your stuff and picking you up in the morning like, you need to be here.

You're responsible for your own stuff. And there've been times that we've gone, they haven't had their uniform shirt because they packed their own stuff. borrow your teammates? We borrowed it, yeah. Okay. Where someone frantically drove home and drove, dropped it back off. But it was sacrifice, they loved it, but they did miss a [00:32:00] lot of things. I remember, I guess the funniest story is Bree was playing lacrosse actually. Oh yeah. And she had a dance, I think it was a prom, and it was a junior prom, I think, and they wouldn't let her miss the game. She was an important game. And so we packed the car with all her stuff.

She had hair dry, like everything she needed to get ready in a car, and as soon as they were winning enough that she could run off the field, the coach was like, all right, go. And she ran running. I ran to the car, we jumped in. She had, she was like, she put the seats down. She had the makeup out, changed completely.

We pulled up, everyone was at pictures already. She jumped out. I was zippering. And we were like, hello, and her prom date was right there holding her flowers. I was like, oh my gosh, we made it. We forgot the booter, but all in all, she got there and she was okay. Where everyone else had the time to hang out together all day and do each other's hair and nails and, that [00:33:00] part of the stuff they, but I think they loved it.

She wouldn't have missed that game because that was important to her. Yeah. Even if the coach would've said, you don't have to come, she would've been like, I'm coming. I'm helping my team win. I wanna be there. So I say, yeah, they did make sacrifices. But even now, like the girls are a little older and sometimes they don't have a tournament until two in the afternoon.

But they'll call and say, oh, everyone's having a sleepover, but I'm coming home cause I have a game. and he'll say, it's not till two. But I'll say I'm not changing their mind like it's instilled in them. That's what they've been doing this whole time. If they are gonna come home let them come home.

[00:33:38] John Boruk: And that's what I think's really cool is you've established a mindset you've established a pattern of it's almost like venturing through life with reckless abandon where, This is the way it is. So you may think that for some people they can go and get their hair done and then go to a prom and ease into it.

But this is like life on the fly. And I think they've [00:34:00] probably have now adapted to that's the way it is and they're gonna carry over. Yeah. Don't you think that they're gonna carry, it's a good point, their personal life over from the way that you set it up and the way that , you guys conducted life and just, it's, everything was just go.

Yep. And it the, once they graduate from college, I don't know how they're ever gonna be able to stop. Yeah. Yeah. . 

[00:34:19] Kim O'Donnell: Nah, I think you're right. That's a good, very good point. It's, that's how they've, we've always been, and it's just, we've always been go. As a family. Every single one of us and things that we do all day is just yeah, that's what we do.

But we just went out to dinner with someone. We had, I worked in the morning, we did this, we had one tournament take then we had, then we went out to dinner. They're like, you did all that in one day? 

[00:34:40] Ken O'Donnell: Yeah, we're at a tournament. Yeah, we came right from the tournament. 

[00:34:42] Kim O'Donnell: Yeah, we always do that. When tomorrow we have one at eight.

I think we just become with, and I think they do too, which I don't know if that's good or bad. They're think it's good. They're to the hecticness and the craziness, but, Yeah. Even when we're not at a tournament, we're like, were we missing something? We're like looking on our [00:35:00] phone. There's something that have to be missing

And then, we'll, sometimes we'll go watch somebody else's game, , we'll watch a cousins or something. I'll run up and watch theirs. Or I think it's just become part of. What we do. And like even work laughs at me anytime I take off. It's always for that, a 

[00:35:15] John Boruk: sport for yes, yeah, we know you go 

[00:35:17] Kim O'Donnell: watch this or yeah, go watch this game. And I guess we'll have time to no regular vacations later. , , I 

[00:35:23] John Boruk: And that leads with the, that the window was starting to close. Exactly. It's starting to close. And you've been doing this for so long, Casey's 25. I have to think. You've been doing this for a good 15 years.

Yep. Now, and now that window's starting to. Have you thought about, there's, that day's gonna come. There's not gonna be another field hockey game to watch. Yeah, it's weird. It's weird as if… 

[00:35:45] Ken O'Donnell: What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do? Yeah. Yeah. It's we're not there yet.

We're not there yet. Not yet. I still got some hair left, John. 

[00:35:51] Kim O'Donnell: They both, which nice is the two oldest are now. I could see us going to their games. Yeah. I could see us going to watch their kids that they're [00:36:00] coaching. Because I was even thinking that the other day, like I would want to go see my daughter, my oldest coach one of these days.

I would love to see her in action coaching little kids. And see how she does it. I really haven't gone to see her. We haven't had the opportunity. Cause we have an opportunity. But if they, would they all still want to coach? I think I would love to, to go do that, and I guess grandkids at some day , but that's not for a long time.

But yeah, I would like to go see them, coach. 

[00:36:26] John Boruk: Thank goodness that you were saving a little bit money in college tuition because you're gonna need that when it comes wedding time. Thanks John. I know. Hey, somebody , a reminder here mean I, I appreciate that. You know when, when I heard that, it's wow, five girls, right?

God bless you. Kenny . Yeah. 

[00:36:45] Ken O'Donnell: That's good stuff. Yeah.

[00:36:46] John Boruk: What's next what's on the horizon in terms of you got your two youngest, they're gonna transition from high school now to college . Yep. I'd have to think they've got it down pretty pat. They've had two parents, three sisters.

Yep. know what to [00:37:00] do and Yes. And I think. For your younger kids when they were younger, a lot of the things that you probably had to do for the older ones, you figured out, you know what you can do it. You talked about carrying your own equipment, packing your own stuff, your own shoes.

That's something that I think wasn't that instilled early on. So where that your younger girls. 

[00:37:23] Ken O'Donnell: Yeah. , that's a great point. Again, John. Yeah as we were doing it, I guess you don't really think about it. You just think this is the right thing and this is what you need to do.

Plus, with all the other kids there, they have to be responsible for themselves, so yeah, it's gonna hopefully carry through, rest of their knives and Yeah, like we said, we see it with Case and Bree, and now we got Aaron and the twins, so we'll see. Where their journey goes.

But it's all exciting. It's very, very cool. We're in a very blessed to have a family where we're, where we like each other. Yeah. 

[00:37:53] Kim O'Donnell: Yeah. And I think it gives them responsibility. And if they don't really want to [00:38:00] do this, they're not going to be coming home and packing their own stuff and making sure it's that ready at the front door, we just said that this is your thing. You now, this is your thing. You gotta wanna do it, you gotta be prepared for it. And they really barely miss practice. They just, they wanna, they're like you said, they're competitive. They wanna win. They wanna be there for their team. And they don't, they don't take it lightly.

If they have something early, they're always, they try to stay home for it. Responsible because of it. Yeah. They try to be responsive with their team. Like I think that's a big part of it. They love being part of a team too. 

[00:38:32] John Boruk: Did you ever get the feeling that one of the girls didn't want to be the one to let you down because one set a standard they all wanted to achieve to that standard?

Nobody wants to let their parents down. Yeah. They all want their, they want their parents to be proud of them and seeing five girls that if one's gonna do it, they don't want to be the oddball of the one. Didn't get there. Did you ever sense that?  

[00:38:57] Kim O'Donnell: I think they all love the [00:39:00] experience they saw their older sister do.

So like Erin, with her switching right now, she, like I said, you don't have to play if you decide to just go to college. And she's don't wanna go to college without playing. Like they don't want that different experience cuz they liked the experience that they saw their sisters have. They like being, I think at the school with already.

Kind of a group of friends that are automatically their friends. Like you walk into a school cuz it's a false sport. So you get there August, you get there early, and they saw their sisters being in this automatic friend group and when we go to visit, they all hang out with the team and I just think that they always liked that atmosphere.

So no one really ever had that in their head that they were gonna go to school and be just at, they all wanted to go to school and play at some point. 

[00:39:52] Ken O'Donnell: We found that with all our girls just being up there that extra like month early and getting to know, you’re part of something before everybody else comes on [00:40:00] campus.

I, I really think that helps. I guess any kind of freshman, whether I guess it's soccer or football or whatever, it, I just think that's what I love about a fall sport is that they can get right into it and get up there early before anybody else. I just think it. that continuity. Yes. When you start something new, in your life.

 [00:40:19] John Boruk: Absolutely. That's cool. Yep. Yeah. Ken and Kim O'Donnell raising five division one field hockey players. Thank you so much for coming in. Oh, thanks for having us. All the best to, to the girls. I'm sure they're gonna be successful. Whatever. They decide to do in life. Thank you. And it's very impressive.

You, you should write a book or something what it all said does. Yeah, that would be good. Write a book put a picture book at picture. You gotta pay for the weddings, like you said. Write a book. Yeah. You gotta pay for something. Start a field hockey podcast. Oh, there you go. There you go.

So yeah. Thank, thanks for coming in. It's been good. Thank you John. Yeah. We like to end our show as we do with our quote of the week this week. It's don't fake it till you make it. That's garbage advice face. Till you make it. Get up, work hard, fail stand back up. [00:41:00] Face it again. Do it a little better.

Fail again. Get back up and repeat. Not a bad line for our quote of the week. All right, that's gonna do it for us. Thanks for listening to Raising a Champion. As always, we always encourage you to subscribe to us no matter where you're listening. We're available on Spotify. Google, Amazon Music, you name it, we're out there.

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