Being on the other side...

Today was a great day, we had two divisional championship flag football games to go to ( 5-6 yr old age group and the 7-8 year old age group). If my boys won their championship games they would go on to the superbowl immediately after. Well, the first game, my son Alex ( 6) played his little heart out, the only problem is that they started the season with 8 kids but dwindled down to 4 on a routine basis. That wasn't so bad because the 4 that played loved it and were actually pretty good. Well, today we still only had 5 kids but they just didn't have it today, my stomach was in knots and I was so concerned that he was going to have a hard time with the loss. But you know what, he got a trophy and cupcake and a playdate with a good friend, you wouldn't even know the game even happened. The sportsmanship was amazing, all the kids had fun ( except for a little tackling from the other team, which isn't supposed to happen in "FLAG FOOTBALL") but I wasn't going to be one of those parents.

So we have an hour break in between Alex's game and Kellen's game since we didn't get to play the superbowl and I again was so nervous for him. I didn't care if they won but I knew that these boys at this age know about winning and it is starting to matter to them. They take things personally if things go wrong and when I see my oldest get a bit teary because he thinks he made a bad play I get all mushy inside and just want to hug him and protect him ( along with taking multiple antacids and pacing the whole sidelines).

Anyway, the game was really good for the first 1/2 we were only down 6 points going into the second but we ended up losing 24 to 12. The last touchdown was great because it was made by a little boy on our team who never scored before and he just ran his little heart out and you would of thought he won megabucks when no-one grabbed his flags. This touchdown litterally brought tears to my eyes and when all the boys jumped on him and high fived him you would of thought they just won the super bowl, they were just so happy for him.

In the end they were upset a bit when they lost but they were so happy for little Tim who scored and they were really psyched about trying to come back next year stronger and faster. Again, the cupcakes, pizza and trophies work like little charms on little kids and they haven't stopped smiling since., I actually think my 6 year old is sleeping with his tonight in his bed.

Today was so interesting for me to see competition from a whole different side, getting nervous not for me but for my kids. It was just so surreal. I love competition when its done right, when its done with good sportsmanship and its done with class, and these teams today showed me that, these kids today showed me that.