It's That Time of Year Again

On this particular day we were up and going way to early for a Saturday morning if you ask me. To me Saturdays are for sleeping in at least until 8am. Anyway, our youngest was up early, excited for his first flag football game. The night before I had boiled and fitted his mouth guard to his mouth which he proudly wears and for as long as I will let him.

In the car we go.

We get to the field, cars are beginning to flow in and families emerging excited to begin this new season. Me, I am praying that my little guy stays safe and doesn't get knocked down by some kid bigger than he is.

Luckily we parked directly across from the coach who has their uniforms so out little guy puts on the shirt which fits great but the shorts, no so well. So we stick with the black shorts that we have on. Turning to head to the field only to realize that we forgot the water bottle, back to the mini to retrieve it. Headed to the field again, we get to the gate and they are charging admission.

I totally forgot about this, 3 years ago when our oldest played flag football they charged admission and since then I had totally forgotten all about that. Plus for every other sport he played in this same group admission is never charged. Crazy!

Anyway, so glad I remembered that I had $10 in my wallet so back to the mini we go. again. Got the money and back to the field. I paid, we go in. Immediately I am cussing in my head because I  notice that the grass is cut perfectly but is wet, really wet. And the walk to the bleachers is at or below the 50 yard line. And I have on sandals. We arrive at the bleachers only to realize that the hard core football families brought their own yard chairs to sit in...maybe because they knew the metal bleachers would be soaking wet. Keep in mind that it had not rained, at least I don't think so, all the wet was from the morning dew I assume. So I make sure that the youngest gets with his coach and teammates and I hand over my camera to my oldest and tell him to hang out at the bleachers (another mom was there with him) while I head back to the mini to get some towels to dry off the bleachers so we can sit down.

On my way to the mini I feel so awesome of myself knowing that my prepared car kit was going to save this situation! Plus the Mr. stuck a full size bath towel into the back area for me a while back "just in case I needed it".

Anyway, I got the towels, 1 large and 2 small hand towels, so glad I had plenty so I could share with other mom sitting next to me. I look up to press the button to shut the door when my sunglasses fall off my head and hit the gravel, one of the lens  falls out. I cuss. Back to the field.

Cleaned off the area and sat down, the game begins. Goes good until this kid that is bigger than mine lines up in front of him. They get down ready to make the play. Ball moves and that big kid pushes my little man to the ground. Now you can bet that this Momma cussed more in her head plus I wanted to run out there and get him off that field. But I also know that this is part of the game so I halted. The next play came and the same kid pushes him down again. This time I was getting really aggravated. Then the lady behind me who has talked loudly about multiple subjects the entire game asked the man beside me about his son. His son, the big kid that pushed out little guy down! From their conversation I learned that this kid was much older and had played tackle football last year and for some untold reason was now back playing flag with smaller kids.

That made me mad. If your kid played tackle they should not be allowed to go back to flag. Flag to me meant for little kids to learn the game and become familiar with how it is played with a more gentle approach. Not to get out there and be pushed to the ground by someone bigger than them!
Our little guy is in kindergarten and some of the kids playing are in 2nd or apparently older.

Either way, my prayers were answered and our little guy was safe and a little worn out from all the running when we left. I asked him if he had a good time...his response was yes.

I asked him what he thought of the game. His response..."It was boring, all you do is chase a ball around."

I could not help but giggle. That is so true.

Looking forward to him finding what he likes, what he enjoys and what his passion is. That to me is what I hope he gets out of this. His passion could be baseball, soccer, golf , basketball, tennis or another sport. What I have learned in these few short years of sports that I have been through so far is that if they don't like it, it is miserable for everyone involved and if they love it, it is a joy for everyone. I prefer the joy.