Football Lessons 1 - Time-Management, Balancing and Prioritizing!

Aly is the one in the middle adjusting his mouthguard.

Gorgeous brown legs in the middle is my Aly.

 Aly learned to take responsibility for himself when he started playing football. His school day started at 6 a.m. when his alarm went off. During football season, he attended school till 3:15 p.m. and then went straight to football practice. In soaring 90 degree weather, fully dressed with shoulder pads, helmet, mouthguard etc, Aly worked out and sweated like a dog with his team mates. Slowly but surely, he learned the game of football and grew to enjoy exercise. Aly had his share of baby fat which started to melt away. Puberty certainly helped him grow taller and slimmer over the past few years. It was usually past 7 p.m. by the time Aly made it home after practice. He'd shower, eat dinner, do homework and head to bed by 9:30 p.m. The next morning, he did it all over again.


I've learned that any team sports, be it football, baseball or soccer, teaches the player how to efficiently use their time and energy. They learn time management skills so that they can juggle schoolwork and sports.  They learn that there are consequences for not keeping up with their grades since school team sports require student athlete to maintain a certain GPA in order to be able to play on the team. Therefore, the students learn to prioritize school work and practices over socializing with their friends on Facebook, video-conferencing, talking on the phone or hanging out in person. There simply aren't enough hours in a day or a week for the child to get into trouble.

I would strongly recommend that parents encourage their children to play team sports. I realize that it can be burdensome for parents to have to arrange for rides after practices and games but the benefits are sooooooo worth the sacrifices that we must make in the short run. Playing sports facilitates the forming of positive habits and healthy lifestyles which no other experience in my opinion can replicate. One can certainly read a book about positive habits and healthy lifestyles but it's one thing to read about it and another entirely to actually live and learn it.

From one Sufi to another,
Love and Light,
Anita

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.