Football

Over the years we have tried team sports and have found that either our children weren't ready to participate due to lack of interest, immaturity, or physical readiness. Brendan and Aidan have participated in a swim team for 2 years with success. We have avoided taking the plunge back into team sports until this year. Late this summer the boys all started talking about football. They had all decided that they wanted to play football this year- and they were pretty insistent about it. Steve and I had our reservations. We weren't sure if they could take the physical and emotional "beating" that comes along with a competitive contact sport. We role-played with them what it might be like, we tried to talk them out if it, and eventually we signed them up. I about choked when I got the news that for the first month practice would be 5 nights per week for over 2 hours at a time. Talk about a huge adjustment! I wasn't worried about the boys anymore- I was worried about myself. Could I feed my family, entertain Delaney, keep my sanity while attending over 20 hours of practices per week? I had my doubts.

It didn't take long to see that I was all wrong about football. The boys thrived on their teams. There were none of the fears, tears, or tantrums that I expected. They ran, hit, pancaked and got flattened on a regular basis- and they loved it. As for me, I was pleasantly surprised about my reaction to all those hours on the field. I volunteered to be the team photographer for Aidan and Brogan's team-and I discovered that I wasn't half bad at it; I began making friends with all the parents, and I started to look forward to 5:00 every single day.

Throughout the season both teams (Brendan was on one team and Brogan and Aidan were on another) had their ups and downs as far as victories were concerned. There was also some sideline drama that was a little distracting- but all-in-all we watched our children grow and build strength that they didn't know they had in them. They were unrecognizable from the boys who stepped on that field for the first time in August. Football changed my views on many things...not just the actual sport. I am grateful for that. We were all sad for the season to end and they all are already talking about playing next year.

Go Wildcats!