There's a new man in the house

Chandler started his first season of football Monday, July 28th. Football practice is every day from 6-8 p.m. The first three days they did a lot of running. Thursday morning he woke up in pain…his legs were really sore. He cried going up and down stairs. He cried getting in and out of the car. He cried sitting down and standing up. He cried because he didn’t want his legs sore, he wanted his arms sore, “because that means my arms are getting stronger.”

Thursday they started using pads. That night as he was going to bed I asked him how he felt about starting football. Very thoughtfully he said, “ I feel like a man now.” Friday and Monday the coaches really worked on hitting hard with a lot of blocking and tackling drills. They were trying to get the kids to understand that it’s a good thing to be an “animal.” They kept yelling at them to stay low, be fast, and push hard. Towards the end of Monday practice the coaches were having a little meeting discussing team placement. Without the coaches around the kids were having some fun driving and tackling. It didn’t take long before the biggest kid in the group landed on Chandler. He began frantically crying and was in a lot of pain. When practice was over we took him to the doctor’s office. An X Ray showed Chandler had a broken wrist! Really???? Three days of wearing pads and he’s already hurt???

30 seconds before getting hurt

He's the kid on top...next picture would have been him on the bottom.

Well, now that Chandler is a “man” football must go on, injury or not. Chandler will continue to go to every practice, do any drills he can, and hopefully learn a lot from watching the other kids. He can’t do any hitting until this Friday when they will exchange his splint for a cast.

Bad news: He’ll have his cast on for four weeks, getting it off after his first football game.
Good news: He’ll have his cast on for four weeks, getting it off after the first week of school.

At the doctors office…
Dr: “Do you have a girlfriend?”
Chandler: “Yes.”
Dr: “Sweet!”
(Chandler has LOVED Caroline since 1st grade but it has never been reciprocated.)
Dr: “Wait till she sees you with a cast, she’ll really like you after seeing this battle wound.”

Not surprisingly this made any pain Chandler was feeling seem a lot less than before, and he has been excited ever since. It is funny how Jason has been telling Chandler all summer how hard football is going to be and how tough you have to be to play, and he gets hurt after only a few days of practice. I guess this is just one of the challenges you have when you have a new man in the house.