Owen has loved football since he started school. The kids would play at recess at Farnsworth. He watched them for months, studying everything they did before he finally joined in. He's like that. He observes and then dives in.
Owen and Evan both took football camp this summer and had a blast. They met a lot of kids who go to school in Roseville. They enjoyed it so much that they asked to sign up for league. Roseville starts tackle football in 3rd grade. He's playing for the Seahawks. I went to the practices. They gave him his number - 56. (The numbers increase based on the size of the player.) I watched them run plays and tackle a dummy. I thought I was ready. He seemed calm. Nobody was getting hurt.
But when the day arrives, I was a bit of a wreck. See, my kid is big. Jim is 6'5". My dad is 6'4". Owen is 8 and wears a size 10/12. So, of course, they put him on the line. He's a tackle or a linebacker or something where he's face to face with the opponent. He was nervous too. The game started at noon, but we were there an hour early, so I brought lunch of course. I couldn't get a single kid to eat a cracker or even a cookie. They were all a bundle of nerves.
They had no reason to be. From the very first kick, they played great!
They recovered the ball right away. Their spirits were high. The adrenaline was up.
Coach ran their best play.
A reversal or scissors or something... I'm learning here people... and they took it down for a touchdown!
The rest of the first half went pretty much the same way. After the touchdown, the other team fumbled. Owen recovered the ball.
We only had one injury and it wasn't really an injury. His dad was sitting next to me and explained that he'd never been hit before (either has Owen) and he probably was startled that it actually kind of hurts. Oh, these kids are just babes!
After half time, we were up 14 - 0 (or 14 donut as the guy next to me would say) and the coach started making some subs.
He put Owen in as center. I was finally relaxed, getting into the game and all of a sudden the nerves were back. Owen has never snapped the ball before. Not even in practice. The first snap, he kind of messed up, but it was OK because the ref called the whistle on the other team. After that he pretty much handed the ball back to the QB.
It almost wasn't fair. The other team was hefty, but they were so much shorter than our guys. We have three linemen who are even taller and bigger than Owen.
See the one here smacking his fist!? Is intimidation fair play?
We scored a couple more times. I think the final score was 31-0. They don't really focus on the score, which I like.
There was no big celebration or sulking by the teams when they were done. They did the obligatory "good game" line
and dragged their tired bodies back to their parents.
I asked Owen if he had fun and he said, "Yeah." I asked him if he wanted a cookie and he said, "Nah." He's a man of few words, but he says what he means.
