He got to play!

Last night was Grant's first high school football game. High school sports are always a scary thing. There is always someone left sitting on the bench; a benchwarmer. Or in the case of a football team; a sideline stander. (OK, I just made that up.) In any case, there are always players that rarely, and sometimes never get to play. It's heartbreaking. I remember when my brother played high school basketball and didn't get to play much. It broke my parents' hearts to go to every game and watch his benchwarmer pain. And my mother has never forgotten about it, she still brings it up now and again to illustrate a point.

So ever since football practice began the first of the school year (4 weeks ago), I've been worried. Worried that Grant wouldn't get to play in games, since he wasn't a starter. He didn't have much experience and he isn't the biggest guy at his age. But he could hit and hit hard. And he gave practice his whole heart and his whole focus. I just wanted him to have a chance.

Last night he got his chance and played about a 1/3 of the game. There are 82 players on his no-cut team. That's a heckuva lot of sideline standers! Especially when the coaches insist on playing the same players for both offense and defense (can someone explain why that is a good thing?...because I think it's the worst thing I've ever heard). But this first game was a blow-out: 57-0 with Grant's school winning. While I couldn't keep track, I hope that all of those 82 players got to step foot on that field for at least one play. Grant was lucky and was out there for a long time. And he did a great job. Hopefully it will be enough to get him into future games.