As the football season gets ready to start again, I worry a little about Javalina and his expectations. He wants to go out there and win every game. He takes the losses very personally, even though I explain to him that football is a team sport and no one player can be completely responsible for a team winning or losing. I think it is good to be on a mediocre team that experiences a few losses and a few wins. Winning makes you feel like you are on top of the world, and too many wins, such as young teams that have a few breakout players and manage to go undefeated. This can feed a monster in a bad way. If a kid has a little bit of an ego and then gets on a team that just wins for a while, that kid can start thinking he is better than he is.
I don't want to say I liked the losses but it did lead to better conversations about playing as a team. We discussed having to maybe work harder, learn the playbook better, to make sure you know what to do in every play, not just guess. When they would win, it was more of a woo-hoo, we kicked their asses because we're number 1. I don't like rhetoric like that. I want him to know exactly why they won, what they did right and what they could still improve.
As it is, they won 4 and lost 4 and maybe there was a tie. That seemed perfect to me. They got to taste the feel of victory but also the dignity of having to hold your head up high when things don't work out. That is what really matters to me that he learn from participating in sports. The idea of making it to the next level, as wonderful a dream that it is, is something that happens rarely. There are hundreds of schools in Texas alone (times 50 states) producing guys that play football, after this, there are only about 100 division I schools taking about 50-60 players each. You could mention division 2 and on down, but only a handful of those ever see the pros. After college, there are only 32 teams and each one takes like 5-6 new players a year, so it is very hard to say I play in Junior High because I want to play in the NFL.
I hope he learns good sportsmanship, maybe how to be a leader, to push himself past his comfort level, and that win or lose, it doesn't matter, if you gave it your all. Nobody can ask more of you than to go in and give it 100%. These are the things that make you successful in life. And if he makes it to the NFL, well then I get my airplane, as you bi-otches on FB say, I deserve it. :)
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