‘The Last Game’

The Last Game ~

(Photo ~ Kirkland Boys and Girls Club)

This Saturday marks a football passage for our family. For Seven seasons of Saturdays, father and son, head coach and player, have headed to a stadium somewhere and played a Kirkland Boys and Girls Club Game. A game they both love and I have been lucky enough to come along for the ride. It began as an agonizing one-game-win season in third grade and evolved into an astonishing…perfect 10 and 0 regular season, last year, in eighth.

But this journey is about more than stats. It’s about boys…

…on their way to becoming men…

and about men (coaches), who played as boys, sharing their passion and having a hand…in the men… the boys will become…a microcosm in the circle of life.

The jerseys, players and assistant coaches have changed through the years (though Sim and Drew proved to be a winning combination.) Our Son’s game day songs, ‘Usher’s ‘Yeah’ and Nelly’s ‘Here Comes The Boom,’ came and went…but one thing remained constant…father and son.

It hasn’t always been easy. If you have ever coached your child, were the player or spouse in this scenario, you know what I’m sayin’. There have been more than a few…long rides home and family dinners sacrificed…in the name of football. It’s a long seven seasons from mid-August to (if you are lucky) mid-November…but through it all, BOTH couldn’t wait for the next practice, the next game, the next season and neither could I. What is that?

To the coaches who pushed, encouraged and showed that ‘heart,’ not simply size, wins games..thank you! To the parents, family and friends who cheered us on, thank you! Sim, thank you for showing our son, what really matters…you influenced more lives than you will ever know. And to Court…thanks for the thrills!