Football for Single Moms
My son, who has just turned the young age of six, started playing tackle football a few weeks ago. He played flag football this past summer, so in my mind, how different can it be? So far, so good. That is, until they got their pads last night.
Needless to say, being a single mother with a brother much older than me, I was clueless about how these pads were supposed to fit onto such small “game pants” (another new term I learned last night). I had no idea how the hip pads were supposed to curve inward and the tailbone pad as a “tounge”. I was nearly frantic with worry that my son would be the only one without properly installed pads .. and would surely end up with a broken tailbone, a broken knee, and injured shoulders after just one game.
The coaches passed out bags of “pants pads” and handed these kids shoulder pads that looked big enough to fit any given NFL player who considered walking out on that field last night. My son calmly took what he was handed. No panic or impending doom was present in his eyes. He took it in stride.
Thankfully, the coaches asked whether or not we all knew how to handle these things. At this point, I didn’t care. I raised my hand proudly in the midst of the stay at home moms who had reasearched this and the moms who already had three other boys playing football. They knew, I didn’t. Simple as that.
In the end, my son just ended up with a blood blister on one of his ears (which the coach informed me was from not loosening the ties on the shoulder pads enough) and a few tears in his eyes.
First thing this morning he asked, “When can we go back to football”.
Thank you coaches for understanding that some of us single moms out there don’t understand the delicate art of football and thank you Sebastian for being a trooper.
They have their first game in September. It’s going to be an adventure. I’ll keep everyone posted.
Leave a Reply