First Day of Football Practice

Darren in line during tackling drills

So Darren's first football practice was awesome! The entire family had fun. At first, I think Zach and I were nervous. Darren was pumped and ready to go, he was excited just to finally be in full pads. Once we got there we immediately starting having a good time though.

First thing is stretching. Imagine, if you will, five and six year olds in full pads trying to do jumping jacks and high knees.

There are 16 players on his team, and five coaches. Three of the coaches are players dads and the other two are younger guys who we were told were Aggies. The Aggies run the practice and the dad's help out. We really like the Aggies. They are very energetic and up beat with the kids, but at the same time are very serious about what they are doing. The kids respond well to them, and everyone looks like they are having fun. Darren told us after practice that if they are caught doing a drill during practice without the mouth piece in or chin strap buckled they have to do 5 push-ups. As a mother, I respect that.

At the end of practice they lined all the kids up and had them run a little bit. Darren prides himself on being a fast runner, so I think he was surprised when he wasn't the first one across the line. But his reaction to his first taste of defeat couldn't have made us prouder. He hustled back to the line, and got in three-point stance ready to go again. Each time they ran, he wasn't the first across the line, but he was always the first back to the line ready to go again. Zach said it best, "You just can't teach that 'Don't Quit' attitude!"

After practice he was still very pumped, "That was awesome!" Which I'm glad he's having such a good time because they practice 3 days a week, and have a game every Saturday for 8 weeks.