8th Grade Football

This kid has been playing tackle football since he was 7.  It hasn't been easy for him, but he loves it.  Some seasons were great, some were not.  He's had undefeated championship seasons, he's had so-so seasons, and he had a season where they didn't win a single game.  And, he didn't play last season at all.  He thought he was done, he was tired of it.  He was burned out.  I was happy as could be, doing a happy dance of joy in my head that he was finally through with football.

Eh.  He missed it.  

I did everything I could to discourage it except for tell him he couldn't play.  I will never do that, it's his decision and just as I wouldn't ever make a kid play a sport, I'd never tell them they couldn't either.  But, Justice needs his brain and the last thing I want is for him to get it bashed around on the football field.  So yay for me, I was just going to be worried sick the whole season.  But maybe he wouldn't get to play, I thought to myself… Maybe he will just stand there and look cool on the sidelines and his nugget will come out of this unscathed.

Not so much.  He started and played every minute of every game all season.

First game of the season.  They wear jerseys on game day.  

These boys had a winning season.  They were undefeated in the regular season, and they went on to win the District Championship game.  They were on fire.  And when I say they were undefeated, I'm not talking about 12-7 wins.  I'm talking about beat-downs of epic proportions.  The scoreboard almost always looked something like this…

 District Champs.

This is Nacho.  I love Nacho to pieces.  Of course Nacho is his football name, but Justice played football with Nacho from age 7 till they split up in middle school. 

And this is Jaden.  Same story.

Oh, and look.  There's Walker.  

 And almost all of them together.

Oh, and hey there's Tristian too.  

 I love to see all these kids continue to play and to see the talent they have cultivated over the years.  This is one of the reasons I love football and why I think it's so good for boys to play.  It's more than just a game, it really is a brotherhood.  These boys love each other.  They've cried together, they've puked together, they have helped each other run countless miles, and now they've played against each other and still have a watertight bond.  I love it.  They love it too.

I take crappy action shots.  I think I've apologized for that a million times whenever I post anything about sports.  But honestly I get so into the game that I just can't be expected to take good pictures.  It's just not going to happen.

Justice played safety this season (and every season since he was seven) so he ought to be in the backfield in all these pictures if you are looking for him.  Number 16.

Game face.  He was watching the Junior Varsity get beat to death in their game.  It wasn't pretty.  

So serious.  Game face is no lie.  Justice turns himself into a completely different kid before he gets out there on the field.  You can see it in his face.  

Team Captain.  Yeah, see how small he is?  If he was bigger I wouldn't worry about him nearly as much.  

  

Just look at the kid from the other team that is standing in front of him.  He's 18 inches taller than Justice.

It was a great season, until that very last game.  After winning the district championship game, they were scheduled to play a Memphis team on our home field for the regional title.  It rained very hard that week, and we could not use our field, so our team lost home field advantage to the Memphis team because they have artificial turf.  The game was switched around at the last minute and in the driving rain, they lost 36-12.  It was a terrible game.  Our boys cleats were not suited for that turf and they slid all over the field.  They played miserably and not well.  Justice was taken out of the game for the first time all year, and sat out nearly an entire quarter.  He was pretty crushed, as were the other teammates that were substituted out of the game.  But, his brain remains intact.   Hallelujah.

I feel like this about it… I am sorry that they lost, but I am not sorry for the character building experience it brought to them.  Justice does great things, and it doesn't hurt for him to get kicked in the pride-spot every once in a while to keep him humble and remind him that he has to work his tail off to succeed.  He is always a humble kid, but no wisdom is gained when you constantly win at life.

Whether high school football is in his future or not is still a mystery.  Let's all hope and pray the poor boy grows some between now and then.