For The Love of Football

We are a football loving household. We love watching it together, cheering for our favorite teams and the boys, in particular, have really become connoisseur of formations and play calling.

When Seth had an opportunity to play youth football last fall, we both jumped at the chance. At first, he was thrilled to don pads and a helmet and be a part of a team. But, after watching practice after practice and game after game, it was made clear that the goal of Seth's coaches was not to teach the boys football skills or even to have fun, it was to win games.

Seth is tall and gangly and not overly coordinated. More than that, he is never aggressive. By the end of the season, Seth measured his own success in terms of how many balls he caught as wide receiver in his only-position-ever-played: zero.

Sadly, that was his take-away impression of playing football. That he wasn't good at it and that his coaches thought so too. He had no desire to play football anymore.

Let me be clear that I do not care if any of my children play competitive sports. Being a part of a team and developing athletic skills was a major part of both Jay's and my high school experience, but whether or not our sons participate in that realm of extra-curricular activity is totally up to them.

However, I felt determined that Seth's decision to play football again was based on more than one bad experience when he was nine years old. When my sister, Jen, called and asked if I'd be interested in meeting her in Provo for a week of BYU football camp, I didn't hesitate at all.

You betcha!

The week spent with qualified coaches who know how to lift rather than break spirits, not to mention having his cousins playing right next to him was a perfect reminder to Seth that football is his favorite sport. Sam, being younger and not having anything worse to compare it to, had a few more struggles during the week. Mostly, he hated having to take his shirt off to play "skins". My boys are overly modest.

The camp is not intense. Neither Seth or Sam developed into an all-star. But, they had a lot of fun!

Coach Bronco Mendenhall welcomes the boys and leads them in a really challenging game of Simon Says.  

Henry was actually pretty well-behaved during camp thanks to having cousins Sadie and Owen to play with.  

Seth gets filmed doing a tackling drill.

Sam learns the art of throwing a football.

The last day of camp, the boys practiced and played in LaVell Edwards Stadium.  Pretty cool!

Whack!  Look at that perfect form on the butt-kicking drill.  

Henry with #25 Corby Eason, a defensive back.

Bronco took as much time as needed with each boy for autographs and pictures.

This was definitely the favorite day of camp.

We were the last ones in the stadium in order to get this last cousin shot.

My sister got this shot of the video they played on the jumbo screen in the stadium.  Seth is shown tackling the weeble wobble at 0:28 seconds.