Coaching sons is pleasure and a mission

For Kraig Ware, coaching his sons is not just a pleasure, it's an obligation, a mission and, most of all, a relief.

Ware, 40, is the father of three boys -- Shelton, 7, Ashton, 5, and Easton, 2.

Ware has coached Shelton and Ashton in flag football, basketball, T-ball and baseball at the Tuckahoe YMCA and Tuckahoe Little League. He plans to do the same for Easton.

"They demand it," Ware said. "It's a thrill.

"To take the simple principles of a drill, and for them to actually get it and then do it in a game, that's a measurable. You can quantify that. You can say, 'Hey, I saw that kid improve.' You only hope the principles you're teaching about life will apply, as well."

Ware, 40, is the founder and owner of LiteScapes, an outdoor-lighting company in Henrico County. He previously worked in marketing for a resort company in Williamsburg.

But he reached a point where he believed he had too much time invested in his marketing job and not enough invested in his family.

"The purpose of starting LiteScapes wasn't to provide for my family," Ware said. "It was so I would be able to know my family."

Ware's wife, Lynn, is a criminal investigator for the Department of the Treasury. They've known each other since their days at Arkansas State University, where Kraig, 6-foot-5 and 270 pounds, was a star defensive end.

A neck injury in his junior year ended Ware's football career. That forced him to put a different focus into his life.

His religious faith led him to work with young people. "I was coaching in my 20s," he said, "before we even had children."

Ware's first experience coaching one of his children came when Shelton was 4 years old. And Ware never loses sight of just what a miracle it was that he was able to do that.

When Shelton was 3 years old, he was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm.

That was bad enough. But Shelton's aneurysm was in the worst possible place, the dead center of his brain.

"The doctors call it no man's land," Ware said. "At the hospital, the doctor came in and said, 'There's something there. You need to be prepared to lose your son.' For the next five days, the world stopped."

A surgical procedure that wrapped titanium around the aneurysm saved Shelton's life.

Ware also credits following the instructions of a Bible passage with healing his son.

"We were searching for a verse, and my uncle-in-law called from Arkansas and gave us James 5:13," Ware said. "I believe he was healed then."

What matters to Ware now is that Shelton is a normal, happy 7-year-old and that he gets to coach his son.

"To see him play a sport, engage with his friends, every day you see the true value of life," Ware said. "Every day has been a gift."

Contact Paul Woody at (804) 649-6444 or .