It was a typical Friday night for us, we had a football game to attend for Jesse. Bradley and I have been happier to see this year that the coach has appeared to be taking advantage of the fact that Jesse can catch and can run. Now I know that most parents are always the first in line to cheer for their child, but folks this isn't just me. First of all, Bradley is one of the most unbiased opinions out there. Not only is a sports savant, but he has always been one of Jesse's hardest critic's. He has even had many discussions with the coaches and told them over the years that he knows Jesse is not strong on the defensive side, but he hands are 97% accurate. One of the coaches at UT also told Jesse that he had some the best hands he had ever seen on a high school football player and that was a sophomore. On top of all that, since 7th grade, Jesse has never missed a practice, he has never failed a class, he has never had a detention, he has given up every summer he has had for football to attend captain's camps, footballs camps, and even extra practices they were not even required to attend. Anything that has ever been asked of him, he has given it, but it has taken till his senior year for people to finally let him show what he is capable of. This past Friday night I was extremely frustrated as a parent because I felt there were many opportunities for that talent to be utilized and could have been capitalized on, but it was ignored and I am not just saying that for my son, but other players as well. I am watching the same game as everyone else and the players who are consistently being used are the same ones who consistently getting calls for unsportsmanlike conduct, the ones who are also disrespectful off the field, and the ones who are caught doing illegal things off the field. Kids who intentionally try to see what negative things they can get away with on the field by doing things like grabbing face masks after the play is over. The are also the kids who do not attend the camps because they are in summer school and do not attend the optional camps because they just don't feel like it. And none of this is speculation, rumor, or conjecture on my part, it is all fact, it is all things that are seen by all of us, it is just things that most do not want to acknowledge. However, those children are not mine to worry about, but having worked with kids for so long and knowing what I know about human behavior and what happens when kids grow up in a world where they can do no wrong and no one ever tells them no, well it just makes for a very difficult future.
I will not pretend to understand what it is like to be a high school coach or teacher, but at the same time, sometimes I wish they would acknowledge how things must look to us parents and to the other team mates. You have children who are overachieving academically, are respectful, honest, well behaved kids, who always give you 100%, and they are being overshadowed by the kids who are drinking, doing drugs, openly rude to their parents in public, bullying other kids, could care less about their academics, and have no regard for others in anyway. We try to teach our children that having good morals, good ethics, and a positive attitude is what will get you ahead, but yet they are seeing every day that is not the case. How are we as parents supposed to compete with that? Well, as I stated previously, the answer to that very question came to me Friday night. I told Jesse how sorry I was for him and I felt that he and other people on the team are being done a disservice and as much as I would love to be able to explain to him why and as his mother, I would love nothing more than to take his disappointment away, I can't. And he just responded "Mom I know, but all I can do is keep going". Right there, those few words showed me that he has gotten it. That I have taught him life is ALWAYS going to be unfair in someway. There will always be cases when you feel someone should not be getting ahead of you, but they will. No matter what, you have to continue to give everything you have knowing that one day someone will see it and it will pay off!
I would like for anyone who reads this and might take offense to it to understand this blog is not about bashing other children or their parents. I have watched this team play together for six years so I have had plenty of time to develop an opinion and see things for myself, just as many others have. Believe me, I have seen things that border on intolerable. I have also seen things that if Jesse had done it, playing football ever again would be the least of his worries. I may not in anyway agree with some of the choices the coaches makes, I may not in anyway agree with the way some parents on this team handle the behaviors of the children, and I may not agree in anyway with the way in which some of the boys on the team behave, but as I stated, those children are not mine and their affect on this world and those within it, will not be my issue to address. Everyone is entitled to parent their own way. While I do wish some coaches would keep in mind that even though winning the game is important, the self esteem and self worth of a child is by far much more important, this blog is not about that either. This blog is about my son and only my son. To let the world and him know who truly fabulous he is and what a magnificant man he is going to be in the future and how Bradley and I and only Bradley and I get to take credit for it! We love you so much Jeeter and you are going to do such great things in this life. We are so happy we get to be a part of that!
No comments:
Post a Comment