My son. Cole Kima. Sigh.

What do I write about?  Hmmmm......

Sitting here on a Wednesday night...garbage day on my street, and I wondered, what should I write about this month for our blog?  I sat here and watched my oldest son return from basketball practice and realized that there are very few practices left.  Very few games left.  Very few drives home where I yell at him, hug him, congratulate him, lecture him, stare at him.  There is a meme out there that shows a father walking a very young boy to a practice on a ball field and the caption reads, "One Day, I Won't Have Anyone To Take To Practice".  Sigh.  With every passing practice and tournament weekend...that meme is becoming my life.  I know it.  I don't want to admit it.  But I know it.  Sigh.  I am fortunate in that I have a 13 year old baseball player right behind Cole.  But Cole was 13 just yesterday.  I blinked...now, we are staring at 18.  Sigh. 

When Cole was 18 months old, we received a postcard for a local indoor soccer facility.  It promoted their different programs and one was for 18 month old soccer camp!  Okay, I love sports but let's be real, what in the heck does an 18 month old gain from soccer camp.  Should have read, Photo opp and money grab soccer camp!.  Sorry.  That was ridiculous.  I told my wife at that time that Cole doesn't need organized sports until he is a little older.  Playing in the yard with us would be just fine.  Truthfully I loved those days.  Soccer balls, mini basketball goals, whiffle balls, Raider footballs and just US.  He was the champ.  He was the best at every sport in our yard.  He won every race, caught every touchdown, hit every homerun!  He was happy.  Simple.  Happy.  Sigh.

Eventually we got to the age where I felt he needed to to socialize a little more.  He was very shy.  We signed him up for YAKS.  Youngsville Area Kids Soccer (I think).  He was so pumped up.  Teammates!  Fans!  Snacks!  We went to the opening day.  Jen was even too nervous to go!!  We got there.  He was full of energy.  We were early so we could kick it around a little.  Then....people begun to show up.  His teammates came, then his coach.  The coach called all of the kids over and Cole was too nervous to go.  Yes it was soccer but he wanted to wear his Oakland A's hat...the only kid in a hat!  LOL   I brought Cole over to warm ups.  He didn't move much.  I guess he was hoping no one would see him there!   Coach was patient and encouraged him.  Game time started and Cole said he would wait on the sidelines.  From across the field I could see tears in his eyes, scared.  Finally coach put him in.  He stood like a statue.  Not moving a muscle.  The ball eventually rolled by him and he was about to go get it when he remembered...he was scared.  He stood there as the other kids ran by him after the ball.  Tears in his eyes.  I felt for my guy.  But I did not go to him.  I let the coaches, coach.  The game ended.  We may have won.  We may have lost.  It did not matter.  I celebrated with Cole.  I felt for Cole.  Sigh.     

Thinking about how much he loved playing sports.  Thinking about how much he was scared to even move.  I wondered if I could use the great old parenting trick passed down through generations??  Could I bribe him?  So, after careful consideration, I offered to take Cole to the Carolina Ale House and buy him lunch AND give him my cupful of quarters to play the BIG video games there.  This would be his reward for actually trying at the next game.  Could he do it!?  Saturday came, he was nervous.  He asked if he had to go to the game.  I told him about finishing what he started and how important that is.  That at the very least, he had to cheer for his teammates.  But I KNEW that he wanted to play deep down inside.  Coach put Cole on the sideline to start.  I could see fear, tears and a 6 year old that I just wanted to hug and to tell him to have fun.  To Go for it.  it was time for Cole to go in.  Luckily, the very first thing that happened was a ball rolled right to him.  With all he had, he kicked it!  Then, he chased it!  Then he kicked it again....he ran, he played, he cheered, he ran some more!  He had...fun.  It worked.  It worked!!!  We went to the Ale House later that day, and he ate.  He played video games.  He laughed.  My six year old was having a blast.  Sigh....smile.     

I have often thought of those first 2 games.  I think about them as he played soccer, baseball, basketball....he has made several all star teams, been asked to play up, got called up to varsity early in his sophomore year.  I think about them during games, when he is the high scorer, or sets up others for success, or picks a teammate up off the ground.  I think about them when he has held trophies from other sports, when he was drafted by other coaches, when he works so hard at practice.  I am so proud of Cole and how he overcame.  How we overcame.  Make no mistake about it...parents suffer when a child suffers on the field.  Cole not only persevered, he succeeded.  He has gone to be captains of some teams.  He has gone on to be selected as an all-star occasionally.  He has gone on to help his little brother.  Sigh.  LOLOLOL 

Now, Cole drives himself to basketball practice.  Grunts a few words when he returns before hitting the showers and the books.  Life is different now than it was when he was little and in our yard playing ball when he always won.  Life is very different.  Those lessons he learned in those first two games will be with him (and me) forever.  He began to prove to himself that he could do anything.  That lesson, along with so many others through the years learned on ballfields & courts, with old coaches and new ones will serve Cole the rest of his life.  He will continue to learn lessons and lean on his experiences as he enters adulthood soon enough.  I do not remember all of the wins or the losses.  I remember the drives to and from practices.  Standing in Dick's trying on baseball pants, buying the coolest sweatbands, picking the perfect basketball.  One day I will not have a kid to bring to practice.  That day is not today.  I am soaking up the time we have left. 

SIGH......        

Want to sign up for a league for your 18 month old?  LOL  Kidding.  

Visit your local parks and rec department to see all of the local options available for your child to play and learn.

Here is an example in Wake Forest, NC.    Wake Forest Youth Athletics