Introduction (For the Grown Ups)

Tonight we have a story about Met's First Baseman, Dominic Smith. If this is your first time reading Bedtime Sports, (or you need a refresher) check out our "How To" post.

Questions in orange are designed to spark a conversation. Encourage your audience to participate, but also feel free to answer the questions yourself and incorporate answers into the story.

The man dancing emoji (🕺) indicates a section where you can add kinetic elements to the story. Mime an action and encourage you audience to join in.

Happy story telling!

The Story: Dom Smith Catches some Z's

The power of a good night's sleep

(5 minute read)

When Dom Smith was really young (maybe even younger than you) he went to watch his friend play tee-ball. From that day on, he was hooked. Even when other kids would play basketball, or video games, or ride bikes, Dom wanted to play baseball. When he wasn’t playing ball, he would watch it on TV and then run out to the backyard and pretend to be the players he saw. He would throw pitches with his arm almost sideways like Randy Johnson, or turn his hat around backward and twist his hips with the smooth, sweet swing of Ken Griffey Jr. If Dominic could play baseball all day, every day, he would.

What is something you love to do, over and over and over again?

As Dom played and practiced, and practiced and played, his game got better and better and people started to take notice. First he got involved a special program for kids growing up in big cities with games in the neighborhood. Then some coaches asked him to join a travel team that would play games all over Southern California. The car rides got longer, and the places he went were different and new, but Dom just kept playing and practicing and practicing and playing.

Soon he was being invited to tournaments all around the country with airplane flights and hotel nights. Dom’s parents and coaches put together their money and found scholarships to help him get to all the places he was invited to play, and by the time he graduated high school, Dom Smith had become the first draft pick of a team all the way on the other side of the country, the New York Mets.

How would you feel if you had to move all the way across the country?

While the baseball was good, things off the field weren’t going as well. Dom started to get big headaches, and have trouble focusing on what his coaches were telling him. At first he thought it was because of all the new things he was doing - new team, new location, new focus - but his body felt heavy, and more than anything, he was just so darn tired! Sometimes he would get so tired that he would fall asleep in the middle of talking with his teammates on the bus ride home from a game.

At first it was funny when his teammates would take videos of how loudly he snored when he fell asleep, but soon, they stopped taking videos and tried to move far away from Dom's sleepy roaring. Even after he woke up, Dom would still feel tired. Worst of all, Dom started to lose focus during games. The pitches felt like they were getting faster and faster, and Dom just kept feeling more and more tired.

What is the most tired you have ever been?

What did your body feel like when you are really, really tired?

Finally, one of his coaches convinced him to go and see a doctor - a sleep doctor. Did you know they have sleep doctors? The doctors hooked Dom up to a bunch of monitors and wires and special machines and said, “Ok, try and get some sleep.”

 Do you think you’d be able to get to sleep all hooked up to a bunch of machines?

Dom was worried he would never fall asleep. But after a little while his eyes got heavy, his chin started to droop, and soon, he was fast asleep. As Dom slept, the doctors checked their monitors. They watched his heartbeat, and his oxygen levels, and took notes. And do you know what they saw?

🕺🕺Breathe with me like you’re asleep. (Close your eyes if it helps). Now, take a little breath, but don’t let it out! Hold your breath for as long as you can. 🕺🕺 (When your child finally breathes again and gasps for air say):

THAT! That’s what the doctors saw.

Almost 90 times an hour, Dominic Smith would stop breathing. His body would hang on to his last little breath as long as it could and then GASP Dom would take a deep breath to catch up on all that missed breathing.

Do you think it would be easy to sleep if you kept gasping for air?

The doctors told Dom he had sleep apnea, which meant that his throat was closing and preventing him from breathing well while he slept. All this gasping and breathing would keep Dom from getting deep sleep, the type of sleep your brain needs to make memories, rest your body, and help you function when you're awake. So even though Dom was sleeping and napping every day, his sleep wasn’t doing him much good. It was like he was eating and eating and never getting full - he would sleep and sleep and never get any rest. Suddenly, the headaches, the sudden naps, and the drifting focus all made sense.

What would you do if you found out that you had sleep apnea weren’t breathing enough when you sleep?

The doctor gave Dom something called a CPAP (see-pap) machine. C for Continuous, P for Positive, A for Airway and P for Pressure; CPAP! A CPAP machine has a little box connected to a tube connected to a mask that goes over your mouth or nose. You switch it on, and all night, a little motor in the box pressurizes air to push into the mask and keep you breathing. Dom strapped on his mask, and for the first time in a long time, got a full night of sleep. No more breath holding, no more gasping, no more falling asleep on the bus.

How do you feel after a really good night of sleep?

Baseball started to slow down for Dom again. He could see the pitches coming in and swing when he needed to swing. He could focus in meetings and out on the field. He stopped showing up late to practice and falling asleep in the middle of conversations. Donovan was completely awake, because now at night, he was completely asleep.

You don’t need a CPAP machine - but what are the things that you do to make sure you get a good night’s sleep?

Try and get a good night’s sleep tonight, ok?

Goodnight, Sport.

Sources and Videos

Read more about Dom's journey with Sleep apnea in this piece by Kevin Armstrong at the New York Times.

More on Dom, sleep apnea and other challenges from Justin Toscano at NorthJersey.com

Learn about Dom's childhood and rise through the Urban Youth Academy in this piece by Billy Witz at the New York Times.

Do you want to draw your own Dom Smith? Join illustrator Herm Herman's virtual class to learn how do your own Dom Smith illustration!

Art & Illustrations

Dom Smith comic book cover from the incredible Michael Borkowski - check out his work here

Dom Smith watercolor by the talented Dave Majowicz. Check out his portfolio and give him a follow here for info about sales.

Dom on the scooter by incredible Joe Maracic. Check out his work (and get your own customized toon) at Loudegg.com

And finally, Dom and Pete Flex Bros from by the incomparable Dan Abrams at Athlete Logos. Check out his website and store

Vocab

Deep Sleep is one of the stages of sleep. Your body is the most relaxed, and your breathing the most slow, and it is the most critical for rest and repair. It happens right before you start to dream.

"All this gasping and breathing would keep Dom from getting deep sleep, the type of sleep your brain needs to make memories, rest your body, and help you function when you're awakes"

Function can mean a job, but it can also mean to work (like to get a job done). If something is not working, you can say it is not functioning

"All this gasping and breathing would keep Dom from getting deep sleep, the type of sleep your brain needs to make memories, rest your body, and help you function when you're awakes"

Pressurize means to add pressure to something, usually by pushing or squeezing it somehow. Air in a balloon is pressurized by the walls of the balloon trying to push it out - which is why if you let go of a balloon before tying it, all the air will come flying.

"You switch it on, and all night, a little motor in the box pressurizes air to push into the mask and keep you breathing"

Additional Activities

Based on the description in this story, what do you think a CPAP machine looks like? Draw your best version of a CPAP machine (or even better, a picture of you connected to a CPAP machine. Feel free to share a picture of your drawing on social media and tag our accounts!

More Story Ideas

Getting good sleep helped turn Dominic Smiths season around. You could tell a story about...

• A time that you got really, really bad sleep. What's the most tired you have ever been, and why?

• A time you got some good sleep - what is the deepest sleep you've ever had?

• You probably didn't get great sleep when you kid was born - talk about what it was like getting bad sleep to be awake with a baby.