Are you ready for some football?
In our house, football is a fall staple, even more so than pumpkin spice latte! I live with people who are college watching, NFL fantasy team making crazy people...and I love it!
I was born and raised a sports fan, especially a football fan. I'm not quite sure how I became Minnesota Vikings and Fran Tarkington fan, but he wore #10 and as a young girl (yes, Tom Boy might be more fitting) I sported his jersey for years...even wore that number in my own sports all the way through high school.
My parents were/ARE huge football fans. We all three went to a high school that treats Friday nights like mini, weekly holidays. I grew up going to games and couldn't wait to cheer on my team when I got to high school, and they didn't disappoint! We won the state championship my senior year, so the football fanatic in me just continued to grow! My stepdad is a former coach at said alma matter, so that adds an even deeper layer of football crazy to my lineage.
I guess you could say football is in my blood, so I was delighted when my own son wanted to play. For the past 16 years, Will has been playing football in some capacity every fall weekend. He started playing flag football when he was only five years old, and it all just wrapped up this past season when he graduated college. To say we were consumed with football would be an understatement.
The older Will got, the more vested we ALL became. We loved watching him grow to love the sport...and be pretty darn good too. His teammate's families became our best friends, and we would traverse Indiana on Friday nights with grandparents and sibling in tow. When he chose to continue playing ball in college, we upped our mileage and set off to Ohio, Iowa, and even chilly Wisconsin. All the while collecting memories along the way, watching him play the sport he loves.
If you have ever played sports yourself, or have children who play, you know sports can come with its own set of challenges. From playing time issues, to switching positions, and sadly, even to injuries, there are a lot of ups and downs for athletes. I had quite a few myself when I played, but no amount of experience prepares you for the heartbreak you feel when your children are hurting because of sports. My daughter experienced the utter heartache of being cut from a sport that she loved when she was a sophomore in high school, and let me tell you it was soul crushing for her, which made it soul crushing for all of us.
Will was never cut from a sport, but he did suffer a career ending knee injury that sidelined him before he was ready to hang up his cleats. Will's college experience included COVID. And if COVID wasn't enough, it also included two pretty brutal knee surgeries to fix some major problems with his kneecap. Now mind you, my son is a glass half-full kind of kid, but this was too much for even him to see the silver lining at times.
But he stayed strong through it all and went back to campus with a new role. After the second knee surgery in 9 months, the doctor told Will his knee was not football ready. This news was not a total surprise with the extent of his injuries, but it was hard for Will to grasp that his football playing journey had come to an end. And for this mom, it was beyond hard to watch his struggle to not play a sport he’d pretty much always played. In a beautiful turn of events, his coaching staff asked if he would like to be a student coach, and Will jumped at the chance to still be part of the team for his senior season.
That was such a blessing to my heart and soul! The team was a better team because of Will's spirit and natural leadership, and ended up going further in the Division III playoffs than any other team in his college's history had gone. He made friends on the field that will last a lifetime, and us lucky ducks got to be right there with him! Soaking up all that football and friendship, enough to keep our hearts full for years to come.
We are all entering our first football season, in a very long line of seasons, without having Will to watch, but I think we are going to be just fine. Football love is woven into to all of us now. My daughter Ally and I are kicking off the college season by driving down to Tennessee to watch our Ball State Cardinals take on UT. We've already made plans to go back to DePauw to watch at least one game with Will, his buddies and their families. We will head down to Bloomington to tailgate with my stepson Drew for one, and of course we have to head up to South Bend to watch our beloved Irish play. We will cheer for the Colts every weekend and take in as many live ones as we can make. And we've got some Friday night lights back this year, as my nephew is just beginning his high school career up in Elkhart...so needless to say, we've got a WHOLE lot of football left to see!
So, while it's a goodbye in some ways, it's a hello in others, and isn't that just how life goes? When Will was sidelined, we didn't know how to help him feel better or what his next steps would be, but it all worked out for him. Now he's graduated and has a job he loves and will spend his fall weekends cheering on a few friends who are coaching, watching NFL Sunday ticket and continuing to watch the sport he loves. And I'll be right there with him any time he wants, replaying all of those memories only a mom can remember, from all of those perfect fall football weekends.
