Hunter came home from school one day saying he really wanted to sign up for a football league. I did some research and called a few leagues and found one that hadn’t closed their roster yet – we had three days to decide if wanted to play and they would place him on a team.
In Hunter’s mind that meant he had three days to find 10 kids who wanted to play and convince a parent to coach them.
The coach part was easy – Steve was quick to volunteer. Hunter went to school the next day and came home with a sticky note full of 10 names: 9 boys and 1 girl. They all agreed at recess to play on the team. That meant me calling each parent (luckily the sticky note included some phone numbers) to see if they really wanted their kid playing. Every kid was in. In 48 hours, Hunter had fielded a team to play on!
Hunter and Steve had the time of their life – I’m not sure which one had more fun! They would sit in the kitchen before games looking at the index card plays talking about how to improve their game. Then there was the post-game talk, reliving memorable plays or calls.
They were fun to watch and each game there was improvement.
Hunter LOVES football. He has carried a football around the house for years. The first sport he tried was football. He’s moved on to other sports, but recess football is still in his blood and he was living his 10 year-old best life back on the field.
He was good for a touchdown or two each game and I have countless shots that look just like this – him running and juking and running some more!
They were hoping to take the championship – but it just wasn’t in the cards this year. In the tournament they lost to the championship team in 5 overtimes. (Which we heard from the league was unheard of since we were a new, inexperienced team) It was heartbreaking for this little team. I’m sure they’ll be committed to coming back next year and trying again!
They love the game and even more they loved the time together.
