What I witnessed last night gives me great encouragement about the youth of today. Some of them anyway!
I’ve mentioned before that Madison is helping a travel softball team as a practice catcher. On Tuesday night we drive over to one of the local high schools and while Madison is at practice Reese and I run around the track. In the next paragraph I will be describing something that happened on the run last night. If you wish to skip this detour and proceed straight to the story in progress simply continue to the next paragraph that is not indented.
I decided last night to push ahead and run an extra mile. Usually we run I mile together (without stopping) and we walk / run a second mile and then do some sprints. On the second mile we walk a lap run a lap. We are working on his conditioning for his soccer season. After we finished the first mile I kept going and told Reese it was up to him if he wanted to keep going or walk a bit. He stopped to get a drink of water. About half way around I heard the patter of little feet and sure enough, Reese had caught me. He thought that was pretty funny and stayed with me until we made it back around. I kept going and he stopped for another drink of water. Repeat actions for each lap. I figured out by the last lap that he was waiting to see how far ahead of him I could get before he could catch me. Catch me he did. Every single lap I would hear the pitter patter of little feet and as he got closer I would hear a giggle. He’s getting stronger and I’m getting slower. Pretty soon I’m going to have to find someone on supplemental oxygen to be my new running partner.
Reese and I finished our run and proceeded to shoot some basket on the basketball court near the area where Madison was practicing. We were on one side of the court and a group of high school girls were on the next court. There were five of them playing (they would rotate 1 person into the game) and they were having a good time. It turns out they were part of the basketball team for the high school. What impressed me about the girls was their language and attitude. Even when a little kid was trying to break into their game they were very polite and offered a second basketball for him to shoot around on the opposite court.
Following the game the girls all sat down of the court around a birthday cake. They put a tiara on one of the girls and sang, rather boisterously, Happy Birthday. They laughed, talked, ate cake and it was obvious they enjoyed being with each other. One of the dads, whose daughter was practicing with Madison, walked by and asked whose birthday it was. They identified the girl in question. He asked how old she was. To which the girl replied, “Today is my 18th birthday!” The girls finished their cake / party. Had a round of hugs and all left about the time we were headed home. It really was a nice sight to see.
Have you seen those adds on television that talk about the activities that kids are less likely to engage in if they participate in sports? I might have seen some evidence of that last night.
