Jack was a puker, and cryer, and a complainer.
I'll explain briefly how the teams are set up. Jack's team is the Bantam team (the 5, 6, and 7 year olds). There are two sub-teams on the Bantam team. The Varsity team, which is comprised of the best players. The Junior Varsity team is the team that has the beginners on it, or even older kids that aren't ready to play at the Varsity level.
Jack was not only a Junior Varsity player at the beginning of the season, but he wasn't even playing in the games.
He was clueless, bless his heart. And he was cool with it. There was a steep learning curve, and The Coach had his work cut out for him. He was slightly disappointed that Jack was having so much trouble, and we had already discussed that this would be his first and last season playing football.
And it's really funny that we had that discussion so early in the season, because didn't I JUST mention in the previous football post that the "change" wouldn't happen until mid-season? But things were so bad with Jack that even a mid-season transformation wasn't going to cut the mustard. Poor feller.
Practices were torture. He cried all night after practice, and he cried the next day all the way till it was time to go. Kindergarden was already wearing his tiny brain out, and football was only making it worse. He was a grouchy mess.
Yep. That pretty much sums it up. Hahaha!
He missed that whole "mid season" transformation. It took him a game or two longer than mid season to make it. The thing that bothered The Coach was that Jack was a tackling machine. If only he could figure out the plays, he would be a great player. He just couldn't get it. You know, just like he couldn't get his letters and numbers until the last possible moment. It just sort of takes Jack a little longer than other kids to get there. And that's ok, so long as he finally arrives at his destination.
And suddenly, there it was… He stopped crying. Practice got a little better, and the assistant coaches started to add Jack to the roster for game day. He got a little playing time here and there, and then he started playing every game. And then he started playing multiple positions. And then he was one of the team captains… and then, he started to want to go to football practice. And then, he started to talk about "next season".
Team Captains, waiting to take the field. Jack is number 6. Still dancing.
Team Captains, waiting to take the field. Jack is number 6. Still dancing.
Ah. There is was. The transformation. He went from being the flower picking dancing machine on the sidelines to the kid that played the whole game.
And THEN, he went from the kid that played the whole game to the kid that was an absolute BEAST during the game that counted the most. The Championship Game.
Jack made dozens of hard tackles. Kids that were seriously thirty pounds heavier were laid FLAT OUT by Jack during that game. He took them down like bowling pins. He rushed the quarterback on almost every play, he caused a fumble. He was ON FIRE.
And for the first time all season, he was up in the front in the huddle after the game. He was called out by the coaching staff. He looked at me, with tears in his eyes. I could see it written all over his face, he was SO HAPPY that he finally "got it." I don't even think he knew how it happened, it just clicked.
I swear I almost cried. I couldn't believe what I had seen that night on the field. Jack got it. I mean really got it, and brought it all out there and then some. The transformation was slow going, but it happened with a bang.
Number 1!
Jack is excited to play next season, and we are really a happy for him.
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