There have been many times that I've been proud of each of my kids. Last night, The Linebacker outdid himself and I'm so very proud of the person he's becoming.
He played two football games last night, and even though he was hot, tired and sore, he gave his all. For every minute, of every game, he played with everything he had. Not only did he demonstrate good sportsmanship, he demonstrated a helluva lot of heart!
He played for the 7th grade team, which is short a couple players now due to injuries. He started out playing defense for them, but about halfway into the game an offensive player got hurt so he took that position too. By the time that game was over, The Linebacker had already racked up a lot of field time, but he headed off to meet his team mates on the 8th grade team.
The 8th graders were on fire and shut the other team out, 28-0. They played HARD through all four quarters.
By the end of the night, Wyatt had racked up 3 really nice tackles and some assists. For no bigger than he is, that kid can hit like a freight train.
Am I proud of his performance last night? Of course, I am! I'm crazy proud of how he played. But what I'm most proud of is the attitude he showed. He gave everything he had for both teams. He didn't look at playing for the younger team as an inconvenience or act as if it wasn't "his" team so it didn't matter. He put the good of the teams ahead of himself, and I couldn't be more proud of that.
He's not the star of the team, he's not the least talented player, but he's a good solid player that tries hard and is dependable. That's a good place to be, if you ask me.
If he hadn't made one single play, I wouldn't be any less proud of him than I am right now. He was a true team player, and put a large number of others ahead of himself. I'm so thankful for that.
It's nice to know that in this world of instant gratification and downright selfishness, there's at least one young person who understands what it is to gain by giving. That person is my kid.
Yeah, that's my boy!
