My beliefs have come a long way from what jocks were in my head. I grew up as a band kid and my opinion of jocks were that they were just a bunch of dumb kids who enjoyed being bullies and were easily entertained by throwing balls around. Now that I have seen firsthand what it takes to play organized football, I realize I was so wrong on so many counts.
For my boy, football is an almost year-round endeavor. There is the constant need to be in the weight room, if you want to be any good, this is just part of the lifestyle. Thinking you'll lift a little in the summer is just wasting everybody's time, it takes a commitment from the student athlete as well as a coaching staff that is going to be around and provide the facilities so the boys can prosper and grow. That is another thing, dumb jocks are a thing of the past, if they ever really existed. Today, the student has to come first, the coach does not want a bunch of "dummies" he is going to lose at the first six weeks when report cards come out, so I believe the good coaches keep the athletes remembering that they are students first.
The next big part is that these boys are not just gifted physically, some are just giant beasts, but for the most part, they are working hard for the gains they get and there are constant setbacks. At Mijo's school, there is a dedicated trainer, and she has student athletic trainers that are trained to help, which to me is a way to get cheap help, but these are also another great group of kids who even traveled with the wrestling team and were always ready to help with the common scrapes and nose bleeds that come with contact sports. Some of these kids really suffer for the love of their sport. Some of Mijo's friends have had a broken arm, a broken nose, concussions, a broken ankle. At one point, we thought our son had broken his shoulder, but it was just a bruise, still, the pain lasted over a month, and he says he sometimes thinks about it breaking down on him as he lifts heavy weights.
This past week, seeing them in action at the football camp, I was amazed that these boys will put their bodies through some painful ordeals, challenging themselves well past comfort levels and ultimately coming face to face with equally eager challengers to better themselves. I think it would do well for the whole student body to be put through competition like this. One should not just assume that these jocks get to run through campus being these big tough guys just because. A lot goes into making these boys tough, which starts with getting up early all summer, sacrificing their free time which could be spent playing video games or being lazy.
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