Maybe this is because we live in Texas and this is football central, but I believe all boys should play football, at least in junior high. There is more to participating than the game itself, it is hard to describe and maybe it sounds lame, but I remember up until 7th grade, I used to be what nice people would say a sensitive boy, a-holes would just call me a big ole puss. I used to get intimidated by the fear of confrontation, that I would get beat up, that I would find myself in a situation where I pissed a classmate off and he (or even she) would kick my ass. As a result, I would cry all the time, now that I look back at it, it was silly, but it really didn't stop until I played football. I learned that because I was a husky kid, someone weighing 100 pounds could come at me and I could stop them in their tracks and usually they would end up hurting. I also found out a lot of the "tough" guys were all talk and they didn't like getting hit. All of a sudden, I felt like I didn't have to fear life, and because you're playing with all these other guys, you become part of the group, not that we were a gang, but teammates don't tend to mess with each other and they tend to have your back.
I am glad I made both boys play. Boy was never into it and honestly, they were not very good. It didn't matter, he became part of that squad and those boys were his friends. All the Del Valle boys that used to come to the house played football in 7th and 8th grade so I credit football for giving Boy a social life back then.
Javalina, is into it. He was ok in 7th grade, but starting in 8th grade, it is all he has obsessed over. He was playing both sides of the ball, starting as a guard and then playing nose guard and defensive tackle. He is a beefy boy and he doesn't even care about the football. He loves going 1 on one against other big boys to see who wins the shoving match, and according to him, he rarely lost. The main reason I bring this up is because he thinks he saw an old nemesis yesterday. There was a kid who kind of tried to bully him in 6th grade, which he took to call "No Neck". I think the kid was special ed (but still two years older), looking at him once from behind, he had that slow look about him.
When I picked him up, he had stayed late for band practice and supposedly there was supposed to be a meeting for the Track and Field kids which he has already been training for the shot put as it is his goal to be the best in the city, he was pissed and talking all sorts of shit. He says he was pretty sure it was that (many curse words), but he looked different, like he lost weight. He wanted to confront him but decided to just leave it alone unless he came towards him. I like his intensity, but I did remind him that if he got in a fight, he could get suspended and then all that training for the shot put would be wasted. Still, it kept him hyped up through our workout, so that was good.
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