A few weeks ago we were driving past the park and Owen noticed a bunch of kids playing football. He made the comment “Mom…can I play football?” I gave the usual “sure bud…we’ll get on that”. Thinking it would be the end of it and I’d never hear about football again. Owen ALWAYS asks to do things but never really has a true interest in it.
Then we were approached by some friends at work about getting all our co-workers kids on the same flag football team together. I asked Owen if he wanted to play flag or little league and he said “Oh I wanna play football…its going to be SO easy!” haha
So his first practice was a hit…well that is after the drama of him not having the same practice uniform as his team. But he settled in nicely.
By the second practice, he had his uniform and felt great.
Ella loved going to football practice too and Owen seemed to be kinda liking it.
UNTIL the tears started. We figured out that my softy child wasn’t really liking the aggressive yelling that was being done by the coaches. Not necessarily OUR coaches but the whole flag division warm up together..so all the other coaches come together and they warm them up. And you know football…the yelling/motivating, pushing them to their limits, etc. Owen wasn’t a fan!! He didn’t like how coaches “pushed” him to a position (You know how football coaches help move kids into place?!?) Owen said “in little league when a coach asks you to go to like 3rd base you just go…they don’t push you to 3rd base!” He didn’t like the aggressiveness that football was. So everyday…at practice Owen would cry. On the way to practice he would start getting himself worked up and ask what would happen if he cried. Yosh’s response was always perfect “Owen I’ll give you a hug and you’ll get back out there and finish practice!”
It was torture to watch him be so upset. He told us he regretted his decision playing football and he wanted to play little league forever. But Yosh and I agreed that he HAD to finish the season. We explained to him that the coaches weren’t mad at him or being mean…they were trying to teach them to be intense and get them pumped up to play. We told him that he’d finish it and if he never wanted to play again that was ok…but we’d get through this season! So the coaches aggression was the start but then it continued with the kids being aggressive too. He wasn’t down with kids being/playing rough either. Yeah can you say Football just wasn’t his thang!?!? DUH I knew this before we even signed him up. BUT will let my kid try what he wants.
But he’s learning. Practices are getting better. Daddy has kind of taken on a coach role. Owen seems to be a little better with Dad close by! And I think Yosh loves getting his bit of coaching in now that he’s retired from coaching polo. Owen is a smart player and has been moved into the quarterback position. He likes that his teammates aren’t trying to kill him (little does he know whats going to happen once we play another team!).
We had our first game the other night…it was adorable and miserable to watch all at the same time. During our team warm-up everything was good.. Owen was reviewing his plays.
2 Back Right, 2 Back Left, 2 Back Right Sneak and 2 Back Left Sneak.
The kids love blocking the big adults. And Coach Jeremy keeps them all on task and moving!
We were playing a tough opponent, the Rialto 49ers.
Everything was going smoothly…until the first play of the game. Owen yelled HIKE and those 49ers were charging to kill him. Our O line didn’t understand the idea of protecting their quarterback and Owen got clobbered. So the tears started. These next few pictures break my heart…hes crying while trying to still call plays and keep it together.
And since he now knew these other kids were gonna try and kill him to get to the ball he was terrified to catch the hike. So there were a lot of dropped balls…and a lot of scrambling for the ball. He cried and cried. And it was horrible to watch.
But he was a trooper and continued to play. And he had one run (after he fumbled the ball, he picked it up and ran…and ran far!) I was very proud of him. Yosh said he ran out of pure FEAR of the other team! haha
My poor little guy was suffering. He kept looking over at the sideline where the other moms were sitting to try and find me.
Its such a tough place to be in as a mom…you don’t want to baby him and make him a soft wussy child. BUT at the same time…he is who he is. And Mr. Aggressive isn’t it it! I want him to feel support for how ever he feels about it. He stayed in the game because he didn’t want to disappoint his coaches but was terrified the whole time. At half time he came over for a water break and asked how much longer the game was going to last. He didn’t want to play anymore.
So this week at practice he has some work to do on catching the hiked balls…staying focused and learning to think about his plays quickly.
Football could be the death of me…but I’m hoping after a few more games he learns to love it!! Will keep ya posted.
