Lessons from Football - Some background!

Although I am just starting to understand the technicalities of the game of football,  I have the utmost respect and gratitude to the game for what it's done for my son. 

My thirteen year old Aly plays football for his school team. This is his third year playing. Although he attends Pinecrest School at the Boca Raton campus this year, he started playing in the 6th grade at University School.  We had to coerce him into joining the school team. Aly was not an athlete at that time. Rather, he was a bookworm. He devoured books and had an extensive and an impressive vocabulary since he was just a few years old.

At University School, Aly had the honor and privilege of playing under the AMAZING Coach Kahn. Coach Kahn is a dad himself whose children attend University School. His wife even teaches at the Lower School there. He is an incredibly decent, dedicated and inspiring role model to these young men. Coach Kahn graciously volunteered his time to coach these young boys and taught them not only how to play football but how to be a team. During the 6th grade football season, Aly was lucky to make it out on the field for 2-3 plays in the entire game.  And even then, we would find Aly "birdwatching" or taking a stroll at the far end of the field. He just simply didn't get the urgency of the game.  But Aly learned and got better.

The 7th grade season was not much better in terms of Aly getting play time.  He still stood on the sidelines for 95% of the season but instead of complaining, he realized that he was an important member of the team. He learned that there is no "I" in "TEAM".

The 8th grade season which just ended last week was INCREDIBLE!!! Aly was very sad and upset at leaving his friends behind when he started attending Pinecrest School this year. But football is where he shined.  This season, Aly was on the field 95% of the time. He was an important, contributing member of the team and took great pride in being on top of his game.

Aly is who he is because of football. I am hoping to share the many lessons my son and we as his family have learned from this time-honored and respected game of football! 

Love and Light,

From one Sufi to another,

Anita

Aly is #65 and one of the two "brown boys" on the field. We look for his brown legs in the sea of green and white. He is in the center of the picture on the right.

That's my boy in position.

Aly on the sidelines while he stretched out his calves.