The first team I played on was in 5th grade and it was a rec. softball team. We were called "The Monarchs" and our toughness matched our name that season. I played with all of my good friends from school and a couple of years later even made a pact with them that at our last game we would all wear our training bras. I realized quickly that was a miserable decision as I itched and squirmed the entire game. I played three sports in high school and two in college and loved nearly every athletic experience I've ever had.
Flash forward to the year 2012. I'm now a mom of three. I have three different kids who are talented in different ways. And I have a confession, I really don't care if they are the best one on the team. Did you just gasp? :) I'm as competitive as they come and sometimes get frustrated watching beginner sports but you know what, I really just want my kids to like team sports. I refuse to buy into the notion that my kids had to start sport training while still wearing diapers. I refuse to spend a ridiculous amount of money or time on one kid in one sport. I refuse to believe that they have to pick a sport right now and specialize in it to make a team in high school. Why would I limit them in athletics when I don't limit their potential in anything else? Why do we as parents walk around and say, "my kid isn't athletic." It's like saying, "my kid isn't a student or a musician or a good person." Stop. Your kid may not have even tried "their sport" yet. Your kid may still be growing, developing muscles and learning all the necessary skill sets for each sport. Athletics is such an outward way for others to measure your child. No one stands over your child as they take a math test and cheers, "Yes! You got that one right too!" But maybe they should ...
Spring forward to this spring. Our soon to be teenager decided to try softball again after taking several years off from it. She got dressed for practice and was so excited to go play. When she arrived she quickly realized she was the only one not carrying a bat bag with her own bat and helmet inside. And as she played she also realized that the talent gap had widened since she last played softball for the Y. Her team is composed of eleven girls but eight of them are on two teams and have a special coach. So there were three girls who met with their coach and kind of practiced with this "elite 8". As she drove home with her dad, there were tears shed. And as a former athlete but more importantly, as her mom, that breaks my heart. So we'll regroup and decide if we jumped into the major leagues before practicing first at the minors. And we'll remind her just how talented she is at volleyball, singing, making friends, getting good grades, playing piano, playing the violin, reading, following Jesus and being our daughter.
(Behold my perm. I know. I stand amazed at it's bigness too.)
