I played football in high school and I was pretty good. I also broke my left leg playing football while being tackled after a screen pass left me lying on the 1-yard line. That leg is now one centimeter shorter than my right thanks to the doctor who decided to just set the broken ends of those bones together instead of using pins like they would today. Many of my teammates from my high school team also suffer today from football injuries, from neck pain to reconstructed knees and gimpy shoulders. Last night I watched a player from Florida State University get strapped to a backboard and get carried away in an ambulance after his head was sandwiched between two defensive backs. He was knocked out immediately, his arms twitching.
Such a brutal game, leaving even the young scarred and injured for life.
My son Caleb also loves football, he proudly wears Broncos jerseys to school, and has an uncanny memory for player statistics. He was all set to play his first organized football this fall but something happened. He went to a summer football practice, one of those casual gatherings where the coaches just focus on some running drills and throwing the ball around. Caleb got hurt that day, apparently falling hard on his wrist during some backwards running drill. We later found out from the coach that after he fell, and was sitting on the sidelines nursing his wrist, the coach decided to toss the ball to him to see just how hurt he was. When Caleb winced in pain as he caught the ball, the coach decided he really was hurt. Way to go coach.
About a month before school started, Caleb informed us he was going to join the cross country team. This was not a big surprise since one of his best friends is a runner and was clearly going that direction. I have no experience with distance running and couldn't relate. But I decided a long time ago that I would never pressure my kids to play (or not play) any sports, so we bought him some good running shoes and hoped for the best.
I went to Caleb's first cross country meet with some trepidation; in fact I didn't quite know what to do with myself. I was surprised to see how friendly all of the other parents were, even those from other schools. The whole atmosphere was very, well, non-competitive, with pretty much everyone cheering on everyone. I even saw two girls from different schools give each other encouragement midway through a race. Caleb placed well into the lower half of the finishers in his race, but as he sprinted into the finish he looked like a champion. And even better his team (and the other teams) treated each and every teammate like a champion. It didn't matter how they finished.
Last week Caleb admitted that he wasn't really into the competition, he just likes the social aspect of the meets, and having fun with his friends on the team during practices and at their team dinners (which happen the night before every meet). He seems so happy, and so content to just....run. And I don't miss seeing him in a football uniform at all. In fact, I'm jealous of him. I wish I had run and kept my leg intact, and learned much earlier in life that sometimes its not the competition that makes sports so great.
