Reflections of a Football Father part 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s a GEO, the voice said.

It had caught me by surprise. I had grown accustomed to watching football games by myself.  As I sat watching the the Browns play I suddenly found myself surrounded by my two young sons, now 8.  Their only exposure to football to this point had been the many attempts I had made in previous years to show them the game on TV and the beginning of their first year in the Kirtland Youth Football league.  Now here they are teaching me what I thought I would be teaching them.  It was a sweet moment made sweeter by the passing years and experiences on and off the football field.

Honestly… I don’t how it’s spelled, but GEO is a play they ran in football.

It’s 10 years later and those 8 year olds are now 18 and, while their whole life experience  does not live and die with what has happened on the football field, I am convinced that football has played an important roll in forming the young men they have become and will serve to help them lead others in the future.

They have learned alot in that span of time.

• They’ve learned how to lose gracefully and win humbly.
• They learned to work hard
• They learned how to work together
• How to stick together
• How to lose together
• How to win together
• They learned to help each other
• And to accept help from others
• They learned to encourage each others
• And to be encouraged
• They learned to recognize leadership
• And to be leaders themselves
• They learned that hard work matters and that, win or lose, it makes you better
• They learned that losing builds character
• And winning requires humility

Most Importantly….

• They learned that trophies are awarded by the score on the scoreboard.  Champions are determined by their tenacity on the field of battle, their dedication and commitment to the cause, and by the inspiration given to those that surround them.

 These are, after all, the musings of a mind that wanders.