My oldest son tells a story about walking past the locals sporting goods shop every morning on the way to school and looked for a hockey uniform he wanted to wear. The small town in Massachusetts where I raised my children was hockey central in the eastern region of the Commonwealth. Many of his friends took to the ice for the first time at the age of three, learning to navigate the slippery surface by pushing plastic milk crates across the frozen field.
Ice hockey was not in his future.
It is an extremely expensive sport that requires commitment from the entire family. With practices often scheduled for 5 a.m. and games as far away as Maine, there was no way I could fulfill his dreams and fulfill the dreams of his four siblings at the same time.
I don’t regret saying ‘no’ to that youth sports.
We’re big sports fans, but not great athletes
Hockey wasn’t the only game in town. Football, soccer, baseball and basketball were all among the competitive sports offered to children in our community.
I signed the boys up for T-ball and the free instruction on Saturday mornings basketball program. I enrolled my daughter in gymnastics. All I wanted was for them to have fun with their friends and get a little exercise.
Their interests waxed and waned from season to season, but they enjoyed competing with and against their friends.
Only 1 of my sons showed real talent
My third son is the only one of my boys who shows real athletic ability. At the age of 10 he qualified to play in the A division Little Leaguehe was a top pick. His team won the championship that year and it was a thrill to cheer them to victory.
When he found out there was an educational, non-competitive hockey league in town, he asked to join. We borrowed a uniform and protective gear from his best friend and trudged to the rink three afternoons a week from November to March. It was ready in mid-February. We were both tired of long, grueling sessions in the freezing cold. We returned the equipment and never looked back,
In high school he discovered lacrosse, which he defined as ice hockey on grass. He played on his high school team during his senior year.
Looking back, he regrets not playing baseball in high school. He thought he was probably better at baseball than lacrosse, but lacrosse attracted the girls. The players cultivated a hairstyle known as the flowjust a tuft of hair sticking out of the back of their helmets, which seemed to be the main attraction for their groupies.
Sports wasn’t always their choice
My two youngest children went to a startup school right out of high school. Because enrollment was low in those early years, each student was required to participate in at least one competitive sport on a no-cut team. My daughter chose football. My son followed in his brother’s footsteps and chose lacrosse. Neither was a standout.
I think I enjoyed the games more than they did because I could sit in the stands and chat with the other parents. That’s why I missed an aggressive competitor’s blatant foul, which left my son with a concussion. It wasn’t serious, but it did keep him in a dark room and away from school for a week.
When he changed schools for his senior year, he refused to play a sport. He had already completed that requirement for graduation and simply didn’t want to spend any more time in a field. In college he toyed with the idea of playing intramural lacrosse, but other interests intervened and he never picked up a stick again.
I’m glad I only spent the minimum on sports for my children. Nowadays they would much rather watch games from the sidelines or on TV than ever on the field.
