Gwum-Key

It's about football and food.

"When is the game coming on?"
"What should we have to eat?"

I was curious,... after all, I had just gotten out of bed and these are the things I needed to know for my first Saturday off since the beginning of the football season and the beginning of Sam's tennis - who wouldn't be excited?

Sam and his teammates wrapped up their tennis season at the state tournament in a strong fashion. They ended 4th in the state. It was Sam's first experience playing at this level of win or go home. He and his partner, Alex, made a run to the quarter finals before dropping to the number 1 ranked squad. Yet, it was the conversation before the match and after that I will remember most.

"Holy cow, are these guys good," Sam had been watching the competition prior to the quarter final match. "We are so dead." It was a simple statement but said so much.

Trying to be the positive dad I was able to give Sam some pointers, "Hey look,... that guy hits the ball into the net just as hard as you."
"Shuttttt it," was Sam's retort.

My effectiveness as a motivational speaker was lacking some. I decided to try another approach. "Look at it this way, they are expecting to kick your butt. You're freshman. Maybe they will be over confident," I shot a smile, but it was returned by a look of get as far away from me as possible.

The match went better than expected with some hard shots back and forth, yet points slowly fell to the opponents as they edged out Sam and Alex. When Sam finished and sat down in the chair next to me I could see the steam rolling out of his ears.

"Mad, huh?" I attempted to poke the bear.
"What do you think?" Sam gave me the teenage response with tone-a-tude.

"I think if you didn't think you could beat these guys, you wouldn't be so mad. I think you realized when you were out there that, while they may be good, you realized that you're pretty good yourself. I think,..."

"Okay, I got it!" still mad, but he got the point.

Next year - Beyond the Quarter Finals.

Peace and Prayers

Time to go eat Gwum-key and watch more football.