Kai decided to try football this year, and we were game to get him into a new sport. We explained the whole, “You will very likely get hurt at some point”, for our pain-averse child. He has gotten some hard tackles, there have been tears, but he was still on board with being in football.
He had a very “enthusiastic” coach. Yes…one of those. He is a little competitive. When it was 95 degrees and other coaches canceled at least one practice during the week we were gone in SD, our coach made the kids play those 2 hour practices.
Just a little too gung-ho for 4th graders.
At least Kai laughs about it! Brian offered to help, but the coach didn’t taken him up on it. It was kind of funny watching the coaches during the games. The kids were trying to remember the plays and I thought they were doing a decent job, but there were times the coaches would get a bit exasperated. A bit red and frustrated! I figured at least if they tried hard, it was all good. Most of the kids took their coaches “enthusiasm” in stride.
The games with the smaller towns around us were a bit frustrating for them. Their “rules” were different and unfairly skewed towards the other teams. They had some questionable plays and some players were out of the weight limits for their positions. One of the kids on Kai’s team got a concussion from one of those games. At the end the other teams were all “We beat them…YEAH!”, while our kids were a little upset at how unfairly they won. It was a learning experience, though. Teaching them fair play is important, and it kind of drives it home when another team is not playing fair. They get to feel what it is like to be on the other side of the equation.
This was a practice night. By the time they were done, I couldn’t take pictures anymore. It was too dark. Yep, not really keeping to their practice times.
Kai played tight end on offense, and safety on defense. He got to carry the ball a few times, and by the end he was getting a handle on tackling. He is a pretty fast runner, which his coach didn’t pick up on until the end of the season. He didn’t use Kai much, but we were not all that surprised. He is not very aggressive, but he will play his position as well as he can.
The team ended up going into the playoffs in first place. Yeah! Good job Jaguars!
They won their first game and then they lost the Championship game. It was pretty cold that morning (in the 30’s with a cold wind), so I don’t think they were all that excited to be on the field. There was one score in the first 5 minutes by the opposing team and that was all that got accomplished the rest of the game. It was a good season, though, and Kai seemed to really enjoy it.
Except for the playoffs. He wasn’t fond of playing in the cold! When you have no body fat, it is hard to stay warm. 😉
I foresee another season next year!
I cannot pretend to understand even half of what you are talking about (tight end? safety??) but I have seen ‘Remember the Titans’ and I know the allure of American football. It is awesome that he is getting into it. On the ‘coach’ front, I also think it is awesome that the kids are buying into it all and not whining to their parents that it is ‘too late’ and ‘too long’ or ‘too hard’. You should be proud of their resilience; although I kind of get your concern over adults who invest too much in kids’ sport. As a netball coach I remember forfeiting one match in freezing rain and driving wind when the kids were 7. The other coach was beside herself. “It is a WINTER sport you know…”. Yeah, I thought, but these are 7 year olds…not 15 year olds. I never forfeited another but I still think I did the right thing on that day. I guess it’s all about balance. I would just be stoked that Kai is so obviously a good sport!!