The title of this article is quite literally how my life feels at times. Whew! It can be crazy for sure, but I am ashamed to admit that I used to look at families who I felt let sports rule their lives with a certain amount of... well...judgment. Why, I wondered incredulously, would anyone want to drag their entire family around from tournament to tournament missing out on so many things they could be doing with their time that would surely serve them better? Well, it turns out I married a coach, and though we certainly still don't have harmonious agreement on the matter, I have changed my position a great deal.
As with all things in life, there is a balance point we sometimes pass, which is absolutely different for every family. But, I see some pretty incredible benefits and life-lessons that come from sports. These days I can even say I'm thankful for the opportunities my kids have to learn some of them. After all, they started young; they could be basketball legends. All 6 of them were DRIBBLING before they were one month old!
In my humble opinion, the biggest benefits come from sports when the family participates; whether by cheering on from the sidelines or playing together. Just last week we took our brood mini-golfing. Don't worry, we all made sure to wear 2 pairs of pants in case we got a HOLE-IN-ONE. But really, we had fun competing and learning together and laughing over our 'mad skills.' An important side note: I did win; forget about that humble part. But moving on... hiking, playing soccer, or going on a bike ride together gives us the opportunity to do something hard and feel satisfaction in that.
On the subject of cheering on from the sidelines, our family really recognizes that to keep our kids COOL at their sporting events, they need FANS—us! I have found that the work of packing gargantuan amounts of food, a few well-charged electronic devices, a backpack or five full of little girl toys, a camera with extra batteries, enough water to drown a hippo, and LOTS of wet wipes, the time we spend on the sidelines supporting our little athletes actually does bring us closer as a family. "…which thing I never had supposed."
The blessings that can come from hard, hard work is something you can't get any other way. And we all know people will work very hard at something for which they have interest. Which happens to be: soccer, wrestling, and music at our house. Over the years we have heard from some of my husband's former athletes that recognized their experiences in a sport had taught them things that truly changed them into better human beings. And I happen to have a son whose idea of a balanced diet consisted of having junk food in both hands. He's very active though, and recently wrestled and placed in the State and Super State Wrestling Tournaments. He had to make weight two weeks in a row. Suddenly he cared a little more about nutrition and has made some more permanent changes. He quickly dispersed his Valentines Candy among his siblings so he wouldn't be tempted after eating just 2 of his favorite treats from the stash.
I could name other lessons learned, but suffice it to say I have to say I'm thankful this Momma has learned to quit acting like Cinderella and running away from the BALL. Catch'ya later! :)
