In less than 24 hours this past weekend, we watched Hunter wrestle three times and play four basketball games.
Being a fan of an older brother takes a lot of patience and thankfully our baby girl Anika has it.
Being a fan also takes a lot of patience from the mommy and the daddy. This mommy doesn’t have a lot of patience.
Watching Hunter wrestle is a gut wrenching experience for me. It is not a sport I…love. But Hunter loves the physicality of it.
Size is often not an advantage in wrestling. Hunter, in last season of pee wee wrestling, has found there are few boys for him to wrestle. His referee, a senior in high school and successful wrestler, felt bad for Hunter not getting many matches the other night. And the ref wrestled him for fun. Hunter said afterward, “he could have pinned me anytime he wanted to”. But he didn’t. He let Hunter wrestle and definitely challenged and pushed him. A kind gesture from the referee and a character building experience for Hunter.
After wrestling, it was onto basketball the next morning in another nearby town. Driving 30 miles one way for a wrestling meet or basketball game is such an easy and enjoyable trip compared to the long 180 mile one way treks we have most often made this winter. Hunter has played a couple local tournaments with his hometown teammates for the past couple weekends and will continue this spring with his Fargo team with more tournaments.
After four grueling games on Saturday, our boys placed third in the 7th grade division.
I love that you can learn from sports the desire to succeed while working towards a goal and achieving it. I also love that Hunter is learning that winning is fun and very rewarding but not everything. Sports and music both are building a strong work ethic, helping Hunter to set goals and building a sense of teamwork to achieve those goals.
And it also is helping me to set a goal of growing my patience…and not raising my voice at referees. I am getting very quiet at games. (I know I know…there is a first for everything.) My more calm approach is for a few reasons.
First, we know most of them. They are volunteers. They are not always well-trained referees. They make mistakes, more mistakes than they should but I still try to stay quiet. Secondly, many are Nathan’s customers. Business trumps recreational sporting events. Thirdly, I am watching 6th and 7th grade sports. I need to set an example. I also don’t need to get an ulcer over watching my son play sports. But I might need to do some yoga or something ahead of games to get me in the right “mind set”. I am hoping yoga builds patience.
I teach my players that the referees are like lines of the floor. I wish parents would realize that if given a chance to make calls in a split second they would not do very well. Even if they do give me technicals as a coach, I still really respect what refs do. I couldn’t do what refs do.
Robbie
Ah the voice of my younger and so practical coaching brother. Thanks Robbie.