(By a reader, Michelle Garnett Carrick)
Hi guys!!! I’ve recently found your page…..not soon enough for my liking, though. As a “hardened” youth sports parent (football wasn’t life and death …..it was more important than that!!), I read some posts and think, “my goodness, that’s BRILLIANT!!”.
I miss those days of little boys (and girls in my family) hardly able to wait until snack time after the game. But soon those days faded into me repeatedly calling in the dark for my child for the umpteenth time after the field lights were turned off. Only to hear, “One more time, Mamma?”….. Those minutes, hours, and years fade as quick as the field lights in late November.
CHERISH THEM, CHERISH THEM, CHERISH THEM. Not the moments, but rather the most important part…..your children. Trust me, don’t be a parent of an elite athlete, be an elite parent….the rest will come. I never missed ONE SINGLE GAME OR SCRIMMAGE throughout youth, middle, elite, club, travel, all-star, summer training, weights, resistance, fall practices, spring workouts, high school, college…..my most proud moment….?
When it was all over, my son said to me, “Momma, before every game, I looked to find you so I’d know exactly where to look in case I needed you.”
It wasn’t “I’ve gotta get the girl, I’ve gotta start, I’ve gotta get a scholarship”….it was about a little boy who became a man, while I was watching a football game.
Hug your children tightly tonight and God bless us everyone.