The Calls: October 2010

We saw flyers for football signups all over town at the beginning of summer and decided to sign Magnus up and see if it was something he'd enjoy. Ben always tells me that he wishes he'd had the chance to play football as a kid so he was especially excited that Magnus was getting the opportunity to start at such a young age. Football is apparently a really big deal around here. Seriously, every boy 5 and up seems to be involved. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but we've had a great experience so far We have two hour practices two times a week and a game every Saturday. Magnus loves being part of a team, he loves going to practice (he even begged all day to go when he was really sick and had a fever of 102 degrees). Magnus really loves playing against other teams and the coaches make sure every kids gets lots of playing time and they all get to try several positions. Magnus is on a team made up almost entirely of first year players so they haven't won a single game yet, but that doesn't discourage him at all. He has such a great attitude, he tells me things like, "That team was really good! If we practice even harder I bet we'll be that good next year!" and, "Did you see how close I got to pulling that flag? I bet if I practice more, I'll be able to get it next time"

Magnus has really great coaches and really great teammates. His coaches don't tolerate any nonsense (the team often spends a good portion of each practice doing pushups because they aren't paying attention or they're messing around) but they never make the kids feel bad. They're very encouraging and I've really noticed a huge difference in Magnus' attitude at home. He's willing to work harder, he focuses better when we do schoolwork and he has gone from being the biggest complainer I've ever met to rarely having anything negative to say. Who would have thought that football could do so much for a kid? I know I didn't expect it!