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Registration fees. Equipment costs. Training 3-4 times each week. Bottle drives. Volunteer commitments. Endless driving. Time spent waiting for training to end and your child to come out to your car. Out-of-town tournaments. Hotel and food costs. Dealing with bad calls made by refs. Lsing your mind when parents act like this is an all-star chanpionship games that is the be-all-and-end-all game. Selling raffle tickets, chocolate covered almonds, flowers, etc. Watching the games. Replacing equipment that you just bought. Cash calls. The feeling you get when your child makes an error on the field. The crushing heartbreak when your child’s team loses.
If you can relate, then you’re the parent of an athlete.
Some say, “What sacrifices you make as the parent of an athlete!!!!”
I say, “Seriously????? Are you kidding????”
There is nothing as rewarding as being the parent of an athlete.
And a damn proud one at that.
(I’m also a rugby Mom. That will be its own separate post where I can acknowledge my daughter and her passion for her sport and my passion for watching her play rugby).
This is where it all began. A student left a small soccer ball behind in my classroom at the end of the 2007/2008 school year. I brought that ball home for my son. He still has that ball today.
For over 2 years, he took that little soccer ball with him everywhere he went. Everywhere. He even slept with it – sometimes he even slept on it!
Fast forward to today. My son just finished his 11th year of soccer. That’s 22 seasons! 22 glorious seasons where I, as his Mom, had the pleasure of watching him grow and develop – physically, mentally, and emotionally – into the phenomenal player that he is today.
My little guy, who loved soccer from the moment that he laid his hands on that soccer ball 14 years ago, has grown into a young man who gives me chills when I watch him on the soccer pitch.
While some acquire skills instinctively, most athletes develop because of their coaches. My son has been exceptionally fortunate to be coached by some amazing men over the years. (No shot at women here – all of his soccer coaches have been men).
His current coach, Coach Bent, saw something in Jaxon and worked his magic. He moved my son to a brand new position on the pitch. At first, Jax wasn’t happy. Defense is not a position that my son had ever played before. His coach pushed him out of his comfort zone. Jaxon excelled. In fact, he turned out to be so strong in that position, that he was rarely off the field in game time. Jaxon found HIS PLACE on the pitch.
In fact, at the end of most recent season, my son received the Players’ Player Award. Although I may be slightly biased, he definitely deserved this honor.
Jaxon was captain of his team. This season brought about exceptional growth in terms of his leadership skills. I loved watching him on the field; using his charm and tenacious nature to navigate his team. Sometimes, he came down too hard – spoke too loudly and too curtly. But he learned. He learned how to lead with grace and dignity and worked hard to make his entire team feel included and valued.
Soccer (or any other sport) is so much more than just the game. Discipline, hard work, perseverance, acceptance, mentoring never giving up, losing with dignity, winning with grace, … there is no shortage of skills that athletes develop as a result of their sport.
Through practices, training, games, fundraising, tournaments, and team bonding activities, a bond between players and parents form. We become family.
The players hang out with each other outside of training, practices, and games. They get together on their own to kick the ball around, they go swimming together, they play airsoft, they online game, they have team group chats, they hang out at each other’s houses, they have sleepovers … they become family.
The parents socialize and bond on the bench while watching games and while sitting in their cars in the parking lot waiting for training to end. We have bbqs, get together for drinks, offer support when life kicks in and gets tough, constantly chat via text messaging, and we always hit ‘like’ when someone posts something on social media. We, too, become family.
Tournaments are some of the best bonding times. In February of 2020, my son’s soccer team (and their respective families) went to a tournament in Las Vegas. We didn’t win but wow … did we have some fun times and make the most amazing memories! As a team, our relationship was cemented.
This might be a good time to direct you to another post that relates to sports– You Don’t Have To Win To Win.
Being the parent of an athlete is so much more than the constant driving and fundraising. Being the parent of an athlete means extending your family and watching your child grow and gain not only skill, but also confidence. There is also much to say about the bonding that happens between you and your athlete during the drives to and from practive, training, and games. The laughter. The tears. The pride.
Trust me, I would rather not be sitting on a hill in the rain and wind watching a game. I could handle not ever doing another bottle drive or trying to get my friends and family to buy whatever product we’re selling for our latest fundraiser. I could handle saving on my gas bill as I drive my son to practices and games all over the city.
But, in the same breath, I wouldn’t change a single thing. In fact, I couldn’t handle NOT being the parent of an athlete.
Those sacrifices that people think that we make as parents of athletes??? They aren’t sacrifices. Not at all.
What are they? They are my distinct pleasure – a gift that my son unknowingly gave to me the day I gave him that soccer ball 14 years ago.
If you enjoyed this post, you may want to head over to my Teens page to read more posts on living with teens.
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