Growth Moments

The summer fun has begun for my crew, sorta!

I’ll start with Jacob, who had his first week of summer football camp last week. It was a doozy!

I had forbid my only son playing football until he was at least in eighth grade. Mind you, I put him in everything but—soccer, baseball, tennis, basketball, lacrosse. He liked all of them with the exception of baseball, don’t know why and he doesn’t either.

Nonetheless none of them have stuck to him with any great favor. He loves basketball, to watch and play, but feels if he isn’t going to reach six feet what’s the point. Smh.

So lo and behold eighth grade hits and what does he want to do…play football. I told him “son it’s not like playing Madden, the hits are real!” He said he understood but he still wanted to try it. He asked why I never put him in rec football. I said and I quote, “Junior Seau, Aaron Hernandez, Frank Gifford, Paul Oliver, Chris Henry.” He knew what they all had in common—proven chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)—and therefore what I meant.

We watched the movie “Concussion” together when it first came out and I remember a young Jacob asking “why is he shaking like that mom” as one of the actors was having a CTE episode. I told him aggressive sports can have dangerous consequences like boxing with Muhammad Ali.

Anyway, I had done some research on contact sports and brain development to learn it’s still much ongoing into the early teens. So when freshman football notifications came out this Spring, he asked and I let my fears subside long enough for him to sign up for spring football, and thus the freshman squad.

He latched onto spring football practices well as I had let him condition and workout with the high school’s program prior to that. He didn’t get to play in the spring scrimmage because it was the same night as his eighth grade formal—his mom wasn’t letting him miss that!

Jacob had a classmate though, the son of two Division 1 athletes, who managed to do both. His collegiate volleyball playing mom delivered him to the pre-formal photos at 5 p.m. and the dance at 6 p.m. and then his father, a former Dawg & NFL’er, picked him up at 7 p.m. to whisk him to the scrimmage an hour away. It all worked out, in the process of picking Jacob up from the dance his classmate inquired about the conclusion of the dance and told him that he got to the game in time to play the second half, score a touchdown and contribute to the 63-0 stomping.

So fast forward to summer practice. After Day 1, my Jacob hops in the car to announce that coach had them do 14 110 meters. He asked me if I knew what that was, like I’ve been under a rock my whole life. I said yeah, and you’re going to feel it tomorrow “he who has just been sitting on the sofa for two weeks.”

Tuesday more running and by Wednesday, he was staring out the window at the gloomy clouds near drop off time saying he didn’t want to go. But then he had a growth moment without me saying a word.

“I know if I don’t go today just because I’m tired and sore that says a lot about me,” he remarked. “Sure does,” I said. He put on his shoes, grabbed his cleats, and out the door we went. It felt like a Lifetime movie.

The next day they had 7×7 scrimmages at some school above Atlanta. He was excited, he was getting his new helmet. He sent me pictures from the bus on the way. He was whipped when he got back seven hours later. On the way home, he noted that the wide receiver coach wanted to host an optional practice the next morning, a day when summer practices are typcially not held. But to this particular coach, optional usually means mandatory, he said. I asked him did he plan to go and he said yes.

So the next morning I got up early enough to put him a breakfast snack together and rally him up for drop off. When I knocked on the door to wake him my Jacob said he wasn’t going, that the pain was overwhelming and that he could barely move his legs. And I said that’s exactly why he needs to go so he can work out the soreness.

He went on and on about the pain while rolling on the bed that I gave in to his momentary weakness. Besides, dropping him off meant I had to pick him up at some unknown hour. His growth moment from two days prior was on pause…and I let it be.

Robyn missed all the first week of summer football shenanigans as she was in Japan but can catch up this week when she enters the drop off/pick up rotation.

I know I’ll be proud of him when I see him on the field (or sideline) in the fall and he’ll have pride in himself but we just got to make it through the summer. Lol.