Often these reflections come in the form of stuff that I am writing about or experiencing. The two worlds rarely collide. Here we see collision in full force. Hopefully I can spend the next few minutes sorting out my metacog version of the situation so that when it hits the story pages it makes a little more sense.
Here is what is going on: as I recently mentioned I have been promoting my kids’ sports lives via social media. In that process I quickly learned how ‘about that life’ we are not. Don’t get me wrong, my kids are solid athletes–one of the three is on the cusp of elite status but struggles beating kids older than him and needs more consistency. Still, opening the door to that world has seriously opened my eyes to the amount of labor parents are willing to go through to see their kids reach that status.
One such kid we will call ‘Getabag’ as in, quite literally get a bag of money. This is part of his instagram handle. I coached the kid myself till he was about 8 yrs old. Since that time he’s been all star status across the state and grinding across the state in every football related event possible. I am pretty sure he does daily professional training and plays for at least 3 different 7on7 teams on a weekly basis, and this is the offseason. I’m struggling to imagine the financial and time commitment needed to see that life happen. I’m not doing that. Heck, with three boys I simply cannot.
Yet there is an entire squad of boys around him who are doing just that. It seems that these boys are going to be successful wherever they go in the sport, but at what cost?
I believe this is something I want to explore more in story. The getabag gang sometimes struggles in the classroom (some not all) and they’ve chosen in 7th grade the life they will lead. My kid is not part of that group, though he too is in 7th and intends to play in H.S. Still, he’s ready to sacrifice a summer tourney to go to a math class. That’s good because I’ve decided not to take him anyhow.
Balance is about finding the pleasures of life and childhood while getting better at the things you want to be good at. You don’t have to be only one thing. The bag can be got any number of ways, and the bag is still gonna be there just out of reach until you graduate college.
All of this extra will make you better, but will it make you better enough to make up the difference of what you lost along the way?