For Sports Parents, Life isn’t Child’s Play
The few. The proud. The frozen.
I believe God has a special corner of Heaven reserved for sports parents. The sun is shining. The weather is tolerable. The concession stand is open and your team always wins.
Anyone who’s ever spent their Saturday huddled in a lawn chair against howling wind or experienced that special numbness known as “bleacher butt,” understands the reality is a lot different. Over the years, my sons have played soccer, baseball, volleyball, basketball, flag football, participated in karate, wrestling and track and field. All have their unique challenges, but I have to say that nothing builds sports-mom street cred like spring sports, at least in the northern Midwest. Here in McHenry County, April baseball seasoned with snow is not unheard of. And among spring sports, NOTHING beats track and field for sheer windblown/rain-soaked misery. Meets run for hours. Your child competes for minutes.
Yet year in and year out, we do it. I know one mom who’s still spending her weekends at basketball tournaments late in May. Another who chauffeurs her figure-skater daughter to competitions in far-flung locations in the dead of winter. A dad who rarely misses his sons’ events, even if it’s squeezed in between his day at work and his evening band practice. We while away the hours in the stands with laptops, knitting, books, and each other’s company. We cheer on our kids, gripe to each other about the officiating and hope someone knows of an affordable, kid-friendly restaurant that can seat thirty-two on extremely short notice.
Why do we do it? Scholarships? Living out our own lost sports glory? Maybe for some…but for those of us hunkered down in middle school gyms and park district baseball fields, the answer is simple. We do it for our kids. Because playing matters to them, and they matter to us. And when the last whistle blows, buzzer sounds and the final trophy goes to someone else, we want to be there to tell them, “good job.”
Because that’s what ‘love of the game’ is all about.
All Good Things...McHenry County 