Boys 2 Men

Just last week, I got this from a long-time reader.  I felt it was worthy of sharing in its entirety.

“Football gave my boys something I could not.  Wow, that has been hard to write and hard to admit. 

Let me start this story and tell you that I was a rabid athlete, from a long line of rabid athletes.  I played every sport that I could play….I played baseball on the boy’s team at Southside at age 8..then my parents found out there were actually girls softball teams that played on fields instead of the cow pasture on Huffstetler Road.  I played football daily in my yard with my older brother, neighbors, visiting all-stars such as Ray Porter, Big Chris Whitehead, Little Chris Whitehead and others. 

I woke up every day in the summer to get my chores around the house done and then sat waiting on Ken Shepard Sr. to open the Lanier Gym at 10 am where I stayed until he would run us out.  I went to Greenback gym where my uncle is a legendary coach in that community (Bill Satterfield), for any opportunity to play against Kim Berry and hopes to get some coaching time from the revered Coach Ken Byrd.  If I heard that Dawn Marsh was anywhere in Springbrook playing basketball, I went to get beaten by her every time. 

Before you assume my parents were like the new show ‘Little Tykes,’ with my dad driving in the car with me running beside shouting ‘run Forrest run’…it wasn’t like that.  The drive to play, compete, and win was all mine.  

So with that history, if you would assume that both my boys left the hospital in Peyton Manning Jerseys you would be wrong.  I wanted my boys to be physically active.  I coached them both in Soccer, being the only mother in the league for several years.  They swam every summer for Green Meadow.  They both played baseball, have more hours on the trails in the Great Smokey Mountains than most adults, and often can be seen on the local lakes in our Sea Kayak.  In other words, they are very active. 

So when both the boys asked to be signed up for football, I froze.  I talked to old coaches, Joe Huff, to men in my life that played football, my mother who watched my brother take hit after hit on Friday Nights.  After much discussion I tried to find a team that would have some of their peers on it so at least they would continue to make memories with the friends they are around in our community.  I went to the sporting goods store and bought the safest mouthpiece, gel pads, and socks I could find. 

The boys were playing football.   The first practice I was nauseated.  Not for fear of safety, but feeling that they were losing precious time that they could be reading great novels, listening to great music, eating great food, engaging with great people.

Surprise:  The game of football and more importantly the coaches gave my boys something I could not give them..gasp.  I saw them go to practice with enthusiasm, say yes sir and no sir to a male authority figure, push themselves physically every day, not give up, learn organization skills to get homework done in order to get to practice, and come home exhausted every day with a feeling of accomplishment from pushing themselves both mentally and physically. 

I watched them learn the game and love the game.  I watched them get their rear ends handed to them, and get up and do it again.  I watched them walk with pride on and off the field when they were in uniform.  I spent the year walking the sideline at every game, not saying a word, but unable to sit down.

I watched my sons take a small step into manhood.  I watched my younger son accomplish a victory in the Super Bowl where the coaches got every player to play at their personal best every player, because it was their only hope of winning. 

I am now a football mom…last weekend my youngest son summed up his thoughts as we got out at Everett Park for a basketball game--he glanced over at the football field and told me “Mom, just seeing the football field makes my mouth water.” 

And if you see Coach Latham, Coach Dockery, Coach Overman, Coach Marcus, or Coach Ricky Maples, thank them for teaching the young boys of Blount County the love of the game and leading my boys into manhood, even though the thought of them being Men makes my eyes water.”  (April Satterfield-Stadel)

Wow!  I couldn’t have said it better myself.