We live in a small town ~ a small town with a long standing tradition of generations of boys playing football from early childhood on!
Since this is also my husband’s hometown, we are actively involved in football too. My husband and our three oldest (11, 8, 7) attend ALL of the High School’s home football games. Our almost 11 year old is in Midgets (the younger tackle football teams) & our 8 year old is in Flag Football.
Flag Football is a simple process of showing up on Saturday mornings at 9:30 am in sweats and a tee shirt, practicing for about 30 minutes, followed by about an hour long “game” ~ fun for the kids, especially since the kids are coached by High School football players (imagine the excitement of these kids when a HS Panther is calling them out by name!).
Midgets began mid-August. Four nights a week (yup, 4) 2 hours a night. Many of the younger boys gave up week one, a few more week two. Overall, they went from 27 players to 19 by the time school started. Have I mentioned that my Son LOVES this sport? HE DOES!!!!!!!!!! It is unbelievable to watch him end a 2 hour long practice by running a steep hill several times and come off the field dripping with sweat ~ all the while with the biggest smile on his face that you have ever seen. Imagine seeing this child emerge amidst others who are weeping openly because they have never had to do one ounce of physical labor in their lives. The love he has for this sport is visible in every way, in his expression, body language, attitude, everything.
He comes home after every practice, tired, sweaty and hungry ~ eats a quick bite, showers and goes off to bed. Happy ~ to do it again the next day.
He began the school year and official football season with a broken pinky (of all things) so this Saturday was his first opportunity to participate in a real game with his team. They had won every game ~ the team they were playing had won every game ~ this was HUGE (in the life of this 11 year old anyway) the biggest game of his life. THEY LOST!
You can understand the agony ~ the child was heartbroken. I am a firm believer in learning to be a good loser. This child had not experienced loss yet this year. He may not experience it again, but he needs to handle it appropriately. He wept. Yes indeed ~ not openly, he tried soooo very hard to hide it, but he wept. In a few moments he was ok again. Daddy mentioned that they will play this team again in the playoffs and they have a good chance to win next time (this is true). After all, it was extra hard to take on the heels of a big loss the night before ~ the High School team had lost their game too.
Just one more moment in Life with 6 boys!
Shera