My Child and Middle School Sports

I love our schools.  Our system has magnet schools both IB and STEM.  But my kids go to their neighborhood schools.  All three of their schools have become IB schools.  I love the curriculum at the Elementary and Middle School level.  As my oldest enters high school next year, he is just doing high school.  And I could go on with all my thoughts on that, but that is a different blog.

We are Concord!  We are Concord Middle School.  One third of our school is each black, hispanic and white.  We are diverse in our economic back ground, our talents and our weaknesses.  My kids have friends of every race in the school.  They know no color.

My oldest has played football and baseball in his 7th and 8th grade years with the same coach for all four.  In the 8th grade he made the basketball team.  Our losses were more than our wins on the scoreboards but not in the eyes of my kid.  At other schools he may not have made the team.  If he had, he may not have played.  In 7th grade baseball and basketball he sat the bench more than he played.  But he watched and he listened and he learned.  He had great coaches who loved these kids.  These coaches gave him opportunities to be a better player.  He played more positions in football and learned to keep fighting even after he had stopped his player.  He stepped up and played center when the center was hurt.  In baseball he learned to pitch in the 8th grade!  Due to injuries we were down pitchers.  David stepped up and said, "I'll try.''

That day there was a track meet, a volleyball game and a baseball game.  Lots of people I knew were at the school.  I was talking with a friend in front of the field house, not watching much of the game.  I looked up at the field and David was on the pitching mound.  I grabbed my friend's arm and said, "Holy s***, David is pitching!"  I grabbed the camera and sat with two of David's friends who play for the high school.  They assured me he was doing well.  I am still a wreck every time he gets on that mound.

After a tough away game, David texted me from the bus and asked if he could stay another minute and ask the coach a question. I was worried he was going to ask if he could stop pitching.  As much as it rattles my nerves, I know it is making him a better player.  Nope, he wanted to make sure he had made the adjustment in his last pitch the way the coach had asked him to.

At the end of every baseball game the coach reminds them to, "Keep it classy."  And they do.

We have seen teammates on winning teams not support each other, not shake hands or say good job.  That is on their coach.  Our last football game the coach and two players on the opposing team were suspended from that game for fighting.  A coach was suspended for fighting.  That boggles my mind.  Yet, said coach was at the game in a coat and hat, calling plays from the other side of the field.  We won that game in the last 7 seconds.

We had baseball players on the football team and football players on the baseball team.  Some kids play both but for some the other sport was a first.  Or the first in a long time.  These kids shared bats and gloves and tips.  They listened as the other vented over difficult practices.  Then they helped each other up and kept playing.

My take from the last two years is I would rather have my kid play on a loosing team than ride the bench on a winning team.  I would rather have my kid play for a coach with his health and character in mind instead of a win.  The best part of all of this is the group of boys that my son has spent his spare time with.  They practice together, play games together, lift each other up and cheer each other on.  They are such good kids, I am excited to see where they go and what they do.

I know I will leave someone out but I am going to try and thank you all.
Coach Webb, Coach Tierney, Coach Black, Coach Treadaway, Coach Blue, Coach Tick, Coach Twiggle, Mr. Hoover and Mr. Walters, Dr. Tulbert and Dr. Snyder.

And the boys; Nick and David played football, basketball and baseball together.  The football players Daniel, Jason, Bryson, Greyson and Tyler.  The basketball players; Nick, Jonathan, Drake and Cam.  And then the baseball team.  I can say they are my favorite because I know them best.  You are closest to them at a game.  You hear the coach fuss and cheer for them.  You can see their faces when they are disappointed. You can catch a smile as they smack the ball or make an out.  And you learn all their mannerisms, like kissing the ball before you hand it to the pitcher at the beginning of an inning.  And how they twirl their bat before they hit.  To these boys; David, Jason, Nick, Matthias(Sticks), Luca, Logan, Tyler, JD, Ben, Greyson, Max (Spanky), Bryson and Jaden, keep playing, I will keep watching (and taking pictures.)