I'm still not exactly sure how he got me to agree to it, but Mason's dream of playing tackle football came true this year. He played his first year with the Caveman Youth Football program on the 5th Grade B team, also known as the Beast Team. Despite their 0-8 record, it was an incredibly successful season as far as I am concerned. As I've said before, my kids don't participate in sports to become Olympic athletes, they do it to learn life lessons. I was amazed at the growth we saw in Mason throughout the season as he handled his anxieties and disappointments. It started with his great attitude when he was placed on the B team instead of the A team with most of the kids from his class. He had a great attitude as he recognized this was actually a better situation for him where he would be one of the starters and leaders on the team, getting to play both ways instead of getting only the required 10 plays a game he would have likely gotten on the A team. I was thrilled that he wouldn't be playing against the biggest, fastest, and hardest hitting kids - gotta protect that brain of his. The commitment to this team was more intense than anything Mason has done up until this point. They practiced every day Monday thru Thursday for 2 hours. By the end of the season it was dark and cold before practice was over. Mason showed up to practice every day ready to work hard and have a good attitude. This earned him the recognition of being one of the team captains for several of the games. As the season progressed and his team struggled with their passing game to the point that even as their starting receiver he went several games without a single pass thrown to him, Mason played his part on the offense and celebrated the successes the running game had. He didn't see much action on offense, but Mason made up for it by playing his heart out on defense. He played cornerback and he covered his side so well that teams rarely got a throw or run past him. In his first game he broke up a pass and nearly intercepted the ball in the end zone until the receiver tackled him drawing an offensive pass interference call which prevented the other team from scoring that drive. When they would watch film as a team each Monday night the coaches would hand out decals for their helmets for all the great plays they had. At the end of the season Mason had the most stickers on the team. But he didn't let that go to his head. During their last game Mason was very aware of the smallest boy on the team who was Mason's backup and only got in for the required 10 plays a game. He hadn't received a single decal all season. Whenever he was in during the game Mason was cheering him on and when he came to the sidelines Mason was praising what a great job he had done. At the end of the game, without any prompting whatsoever, Mason took one of the decals off his helmet and went over and put it on the boy's and told him he had made some awesome plays that day and deserved it. Witnessing that moment made me more proud than any touchdown or undefeated season ever could have.
While Mason passed every emotional test he was given with flying colors, I cannot say the same for me. I failed my first true test as a football mom when Mason was injured on a play and while he was rolling around on the field in pain it looked as if his foot was hanging at an unnatural angle. Before anyone could stop me I was sprinting out on the field in complete, overprotective mom panic. Turns out his pride had been hurt more than his leg and he got up and walked off the field just fine while I did a walk of shame back to the sideline of parents, apologizing for my over reaction. Scott laughed and told me I had better get used to it if I'm going to be a football mom of three boys.
I am so proud of Mason and all of his incredible hard work and discipline this season and can't wait to cheer him on in many seasons to come.
