We have entered another chapter in the Patterson home with our youngest son Jase now embarking on his football journey with his school’s Pee Wee team.
Jase has participated in the local youth baseball program as soon as he was old enough to pick up a baseball bat. But football is new territory for him.
And if you are expecting to find an anxious, perhaps even nervous boy, Jase is not your candidate. He is more excited than ever to be joining a sport he has watched his big brother James play for the past five years.
This past several weeks, Jase has been heading off to football practice every afternoon. Mind you, practice begins around 5 p.m., but he begins to ask me if he can put on his football gear around noon.
“Practice is four hours away,” I said. “You have plenty of time to get ready. It’s barely lunch time yet.”
“Let me know when it get closer to the time,” he replied, putting his gear on the floor, in strategic order.
It was about two weeks ago when Jase’s football coaches said it was time for him to start wearing his pads to practice. The bulky pads seem to completely consume his small frame, but he was not intimidated at all. Well, until it came time to put them on.
With one arm dangling out of one side, Jase attempted to tighten his pad strings about five times before he started grumbling in frustration.
I was about to give him a helping hand when I heard James come out of his bedroom towards Jase.
“You’re doing it wrong,” James said, to Jase. “Let me help you. Now watch me do it because you have to learn how to do this on your own.”
With Jase observing every move James made, he quickly understood what he had been doing wrong.
About two days later, James approached Jase in the living room with a notebook full of drawings. I had no idea what he was up to, but I soon discovered James had created Jase a “playbook.”
“Let’s go outside and practice some of these plays,” James said. “You don’t need your gear just get your shoes on for now.”
Within minutes, I saw the boys in the back yard with James pointing to the notebook, with Jase hanging on every word. It didn’t take long for them to be running play s together, unorganized at first but eventually getting the hang of it.
Jase caught the football in the middle of falling backwards and soon landed on his right side. And although he tumbled, he held tight to the football.
“I still had it,” Jase said, with a giant smile. “But that kind of hurt hitting the ground.”
“That kind of stuff happens in football,” James replied, helping him off the ground. “You just got to get use to it, but you did good.”
From that moment on, James was at every practice Jase had, watching his progress and providing tips on the car ride home.
Those boys can fight like cats and dogs. But when it matters, they look out for each other. And it warmed my heart to see them coming together.
It was a bittersweet moment to see my oldest son, who towers above the baby, teaching him about the game. I can remember when it was James on that Pee Wee field.
Times flies so fast.
But just like James said, that kind of stuff happens. You just have to get use to it and try your best.
