Dear Football Mom,
Our son will graduate this spring and signed to play college football on National Signing Day. We are thrilled! His dad thinks he needs to continue to work out and run. I think he should take a break because he’s been working out for at least four years through high school. I do know it will be more strenuous in college but I feel enough already, let the kid have a break before heading out our door next year. What is your take on this? Should he keep working out or take a break before he reports to the college campus next fall?
Dear Reader,
How do I get myself smack-dab in the muddling mess of arguments between moms and dads? Do y’all really want me to take sides? You should read some of my email when questions are thrown at me like mortar squeezed out of tubes. It is then—I end up getting stuck right in the middle of the mud hole! You reckon I should know better by now.
Congratulations to y’all and your son. Get ready for some exciting days ahead of being true to your school like you would to your girl!! Fun times ahead for you and family. Soak up every minute because it will be over before you can say, “hut, hike.”
Yes, of course he still needs to work out. And for the record, I’m not taking your husband’s side. Even though your son signed and is headed for the college football team, he still needs to get stronger and faster before he shows up on campus. Without a doubt, those college puppies need all the preparation they can muster, and freshman report a week or two earlier than the upper classmen do. You wouldn’t want that feller of yours in dire straits throwing up at the first Oklahoma drill, would you?
Did he, himself want to take time off? If so, he will be in for a rude awakening once on campus. Most folks have no idea what’s ahead. Right now, when the stadium is quiet and the fans are home, most believe its off-season for the college player. Ha! Once Christmas break is over and those players report back to campus, they are killin’ themselves with what college coaches call mat drills. There is no such a thing as off-season for most athletes who are serious about their sport.
The players are required to pull themselves out of bed at 4 a.m. and report to the gym. They are given several special “stations” in which to drain themselves of any pride, accomplishments, or past rewards. This is the humbling effect. And the coaches thrive on seeing how low they can drive these young men. Did I really say men? They will turn them fellers into men come heck or high water. By cracky, you can count on it.
These drills are different on the various college campuses, but the psyche behind them is the same. Bring a team together, make the word teamwork come alive, and drive mental discipline to be front and center … provided the players don’t keel over first. On some accounts, these drills are worse than two-a-days in spring. Running bleachers is only part of the regime, but have you ever run bleachers? Yeah, I would say a boy better be in shape and have he’s head screwed on straight. By that, I mean his mental toughness had better be intact. No whiners allowed.
It will be almost a full year before your son experiences this routine, but there is that little thing called preseason camp that will require him to bust his hump in just a few short months. So, what’s ya think, mama? Should he work out in the weight room and run? Hmmm …
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