Are you ready for some (tackle) football??

As excited as Connor was last year to play his first season of flag football, he could never stop talking about how he would start playing tackle football when he turned 7. I don't think he really understood how tough it would be, but he was READY. So when we made the decision to move to Katy, our first 2 steps were (1) buy a house, and (2) sign Connor up for tackle football. Ha! (I'm kind of kidding but mostly not.)

We've always known that football in Texas is a BIG deal. And now we are learning that football in Katy is a HUGE deal. It's like Friday Night Lights on steroids. People here take their football SO seriously. Apparently the kids here start playing flag football at age 3 and tackle football at age 6. We have a lot of catching up to do, ha!

Earlier this month, we were thrilled to learn about Connor's team assignment for his youth football league. He will be playing for the Katy Texans! We were so excited about that because any of the gear we buy can do double-duty for our hometown NFL team, too. (Last year we had to buy Saints stuff, and now we're stuck with no use for it.)

After the initial parent meeting, I was armed with a shopping list for Connor's football season. Custom fitted helmet, full pads, padded Drifit shirt and shorts, practice jersey, padded practice pants, football cleats, football socks...the list was long and overwhelming! But Connor couldn't have been more excited to try everything on and see how it felt.

Connor started his thrice weekly football practices a few weeks ago, and boy, has it been an eye opener for him. Poor guy, his whole life has been hearing from me, "Too rough!" or "Be gentle!" or "Don't hurt anyone!" and other things along those lines. And now, he is suiting up in full pads and helmet and being told to tackle runners and hit 'em hard.

The practice field is in a beautiful location.



Connor is right in the middle, red jersey and black pants, about to go in for one of his first tackles.

All suited up and ready for practice.

During one practice when Jeff wasn't there, I went over to Connor during a water break and I could tell he was fighting tears. He said he had hurt his arm and it was hurting badly. Poor thing, he was trying SO hard to be tough and not cry. I had to fight every instinct I had as a Mom to comfort him and give him soothing words. Instead, I changed the subject and asked if he was having fun and started trying to joke light-heartedly with him. He quickly shook off the pain and returned happily to practice.

Shortly after the boys started tackling hard in practice, Connor started discovering all sorts of new "friends" (muscles) and "pests" (bruises) all over his body. His arms look the worst so far, take a look:

 

Here's what I'll say about Connor and football: he is not fast and he does not have a natural athletic ability. But he has SERIOUS heart and passion. He gets knocked down and gets right back up. He practices relentlessly and never gives up. He's smart and learns quickly. We are so proud of his progress already and can't wait to see how he grows throughout the season. Go Texans!!