A tough night at practice

Greg is so wiped out after practice. All day long he was asking how many days till his first scrimmage. 9 days to go. Then during a water break he told me he does not want to do this anymore. Hang in there bud, I know it's tough, but you can't give up now, you made a commitment to this team and your coach is counting on you. I gave the best pep talk I could in the short time he had to get his water bottle and back onto the field.

But I do have to admit, these guys are being worked tough. Warm ups, running, drills, more drills and even more running. During defense drills Greg was diving on the ball, being dog piled, taking a beating. I did see him get kicked in the leg (not intentionally) and rammed in the back by a helmet (not intentionally). I told him this is what it is like in the games. Also told him he is one tough guy and will be able to take it. And he is not the only one getting roughed up, in fact most of the guys are.

He is really getting his dose of reality now. Football is not like soccer or baseball. Even though Greg can make soccer a contact sport.

I have to admit, Greg is one of the fastest guys on the team. Since he is first to get through the defense pads the coach is holding up and first to dive on the ball, yep, he is going to get beat up. By this I mean, end up on the bottom of the dog pile and get knocked around.

And I also see him out there thinking about what he is going to do during defense and offense drills, anticipating where the ball will be going, finding the holes and getting through them.

Got home close to 8:30 and Greg and I had some granola and chatted about practice. Then we snuggled and watched the rest of Dirty Jobs before I tucked him into bed. Have to admit, I am wiped out too. Makes for a long day.

Hang in there Greg, tomorrow is another day. This is only your second week of practice and you are so looking forward to your first scrimmage. You are a tough guy and this will just keep getting easier as the season goes on. We will get through this and you will have a good first football season.

One more practice this week and then the weekend. Ahhh! the weekend! Time to sleep in (and clean this very messy house - it's been one of those weeks) . Next week is full contact. Should be fun......