I wasn’t the mom who signed my kids up for organized activities when they were preschoolers. All the other four- and five-year-olds were playing soccer (i.e. wild swarms of urchins chasing a ball around) or t-ball (i.e. one kid swinging wildly at a ball-on-the-tee while nine other youngsters climb the dugout fence). My kids were the ones running around in the yard and riding bikes in the cul-de-sac. Often by themselves, since the other kids were rushing off to practice or games or whatever.
For the longest time I was the only mom I knew that didn’t keep a calendar for her kids. Except for special events at playschool — see? even their preschool was play-based — there just wasn’t anything on their schedule. They played. They got dirty. They came inside when they got hot or turned on the hose and played in the water. They were kids.
They’re older now, so we’ve moved through our fair share of sports stages:
Bear’s gymnastics stage. She loved tumbling. She learned how to climb a 30-foot rope to the ceiling in this class! Alas, the poor girl has my severe lack of flexibility, so that limited her a bit.
We also lived through a few seasons of baseball and softball. This sport is one of BrightSide’s strengths; He coached T-man’s team and loved it. I was zero help in these activities. Seriously, I couldn’t even fake helping them at home because even though I consider myself athletic, none of those coordination skills translated into baseball or softball talent.
I couldn’t throw properly, I couldn’t hit well, I couldn’t even get the hang of tossing the ball for the kids to practice batting. I don’t mean pitching, I mean literally kneeling beside my child and gently tossing the ball into the area in front of the bat so they could get the feel of hitting the ball. I mean, come on! Not being able to lightly throw the ball into the air? Now that’s embarrassing.
Soccer, on the other hand…I played this sport from 2nd grade through senior year of high school, so I was thrilled when the kids wanted to try it. They both ended up playing for four or five seasons and I loved every minute. (Not simply because I love the game — it was just so refreshing not to have to ask questions about rules or scoring or, well, everything.) Bear had a fantastic coach from the start — he was great with the kids and taught them a lot about soccer while they had fun playing it.
After T-man’s first season I was recruited to coach his next team. (Moral of the story: Don’t complain about the caliber of coaching to someone who knows you played the sport and will throw you under the bus when the rec department needs another coach.) Despite my (admittedly intense) competitiveness, I somehow managed to maintain a positive team attitude no matter how the games were going. I’m super proud of that because there’s nothing I hate more than some crazy ass coach screaming at his nine- and ten-year-old players from the sideline. If you’re gonna coach youth sports you’ve got to walk that fine line between being inspirational and demanding without veering into insane belligerence. (I will admit, though, that BrightSide listened to his fair share of venting after the games were done.)
Then there was Bear’s one day flirtation with cheerleading. The local high school squad held a two-hour workshop before their football game and then took the girls out with them to cheer for the first half. Bear got to stand on the field while the players ran on, participate in cheers (with pom-poms, no less), do a few tumbling runs in front of the stands, and show off this cheerleading move for the crowd. She loved every moment of that night!
BrightSide’s truest delight is basketball, so he’s loved the winters that the kids have played this sport. He’s coached both of their teams at one time or another and is incredible with all of the kids. (Let’s just say that he has more patience in his pinky finger than I have in my entire body when it comes to coaching the little ones. Not my thing, man.)
T-man and Bear both improved so much this past season. It was awesome to see how they refined their skills week to week. (I have to admit that I lost my voice at more than one game last winter…)
BrightSide would never say this out loud, but I suspect deep down he’s hoping that one of them will latch onto this sport long-term.
T-man takes the award for the longest running sport as far as consecutive months of participation go. He started taking Tae Kwon Do in second grade. It’s a year-round activity, and after years of hard work he’s in the final months of preparation before testing to earn his black belt. The studio’s philosophy of responsibility, respect, dedication, and being an upright member of your community aligns nicely with our own beliefs. Aside from the philosophical aspects, though, it’s been amazing to watch T-man learn and grow in this martial art. He demonstrates extraordinary strength in self-defense and board breaking as well as exceptional grace while doing his Poomsae. Watching him perform is, frankly, mesmerizing.
And that’s our sports-in-review for, say, the last four years or so. Busy, busy, busy. (On a side note: what on earth did I do before my iPhone calendar?? That thing keeps my entire life on track! God bless you, Steve Jobs.)
It sure will be interesting to see what the next six or eight years brings.
Riddle from the Middle 