In the world of social media, the tendency is to only share the highlights. This is not true to life. Therefore, I am going to be brave and share the real story of Full Speed’s current flag football team. To say they are underdogs is putting it kindly.
Their first game was a 38-6 loss. Not great but we naively thought that we still had a legitimate shot at a victory down the road. Oh, the poor sweet dears we all were then! The next game we lost 65-0. I know it’s hard to imagine that a rec league flag football game could reach a score that high, but reach it did and in spectacular fashion. Our team did not pull one defensive flag, they dropped more snaps than you can shake a stick at and they maybe had two instances of yards gained on offense. Scoring any points at all was a pipe dream and first downs….not in this lifetime. It seemed the harder they tried, the more mistakes they made. It was beyond painful to watch. Subsequent games have been more of the same.
At the beginning of the season, Mad Dog had ordered me a football jersey touting my boys’ names. As the weeks wore on and this brutal season unfolded, I was secretly glad it was taking a long time to arrive. When it finally did arrive, I made a bold choice. I would wear my jersey with pride. The first game I wore it to, we lost 60ish-8 (I start to lose count after the other team scores their first few touchdowns). The second game, was a 50ish-6 defeat. So, any magic I was hoping for from the jersey wasn’t happening.
Full Speed’s evolution in this process has been interesting. He went from despondent and apathetic to reaching a level of acceptance. He now faces every game with the understanding that victory is highly unlikely but small successes are attainable. Instead of lamenting about how awful the game was, we focus on the ways he did well. The best part is now he is maintaining a good attitude and effort even when he is losing by a dramatic margin which is pretty much all the time.
Like I told him, if he scores 20 TDs or zero, I am here to support him and wear my jersey with pride.
See you at the fields!
Writes for all Mommies 