I am a sports mom, hear me roar! Sports moms are a special breed. We spend long hours in the car driving from place to place to watch our favorite athlete do what they do! Living in Kansas, we can experience all the seasons of weather during one weekend of a sporting event. All the while, screaming at the top of our lungs supporting our athlete with a smile on our face and a tear in our eye.
Tonight as I took out my baseball earrings and ball cap for the last time until next season its bittersweet…I am ready for a break from baseball. But oh wait, football camp starts in a week. I’ve had “non-ball” mom friends ask me throughout the season as I turn down their invitations or have to alter plans at the last minute “Because I can’t, we have ball.”
“Doesn’t it bother you spending so much time running like crazy and spending all your time in the heat and dirt at ball fields?!”
Well no… it doesn’t, actually! I spend all my time for many months watching my kids grow, struggle and develop into better players, teammates and friends. I watch them support others in a loss or strike out. I watch them take a knee when other players get hurt. I watch them in highs and lows. I wash uniforms at midnight. I wash water jugs 1,000 times. I pack baseball bags over and over, search for ball hats when we’re supposed to be leaving for games, I drive miles and miles to watch my favorite #8 & #17. I have been known to go from one diamond to the next and back again just to watch an at-bat. I volunteer to be the team mom and take on the responsibility of fundraising, team building, snack schedules and all the other things. I pull a wagon of necessities to occupy the 3 year old sibling that’s being dragged from one field to the next.
And you know what? I love it.
I can’t imagine being anywhere else. If there is some outrageous reason I have to miss a game, I am following along on my phone using the game app, asking other moms to send pictures or videos of at bats.
I do a lot for my kids, and I do a lot for their teammates because they’re my kids, too. Their parents are some of my great friends. At the end of each season, we never know who is returning and who is moving on. We have plans for my husband to move on from coaching our oldest to our youngest next year and honestly it makes me tear up! I’ve watched them fight, cry, laugh, high five on that field for 6 years! I’ve watched my husband form bonds with almost every athlete he has coached. When he announced his “retirement” from my oldest’ team last year, you’d think he was leaving forever, he will still be in the stands but that wasn’t acceptable to the other parents, coaches and athletes. So they met in the middle and decided he could “part time” coach. We all know he will be there full-time. He can’t give up those kids or the sport he loves, and they won’t let him just walk away. I want to thank my husband for all his blood, sweat, time and tears he’s put into these kids!
My daughter finishes her season next week, too. I’m impressed with how things have clicked for her. They may not be the best players but in my mind and heart they’re the best! Until January, when we meet again in the batting cages and dust off the ball equipment and prepare for another season of battle!
Thank you, coaches and parents! You have a spot in my heart forever.
To you sports moms out there, I hear you! It takes a village some days, the car pools get complicated, the late nights and early mornings are exhausting. But guess what, we only have limit years and seasons until they’re doing it all on their own. Enjoy it.
And it’s OK to say “Sorry I can’t, my kid has __________!”
Jen is a born and raised Wichitan, graduate from El Dorado High school and attended Friends University. She is a wife to Keith (m. 2009) and mom to three active, sports loving kids – Kody (b. 2009), Kinley (b. 2011), and Kole (b.2016).
Jen is a SAHM, substitute teacher and works part-time at the North YMCA Kidzone and Mom’s Day Out. Jen believes she was solely put on this earth to be a mom! Christmas is her favorite holiday and believes it’s absolutely appropriate to have a tree in every room! Her hobbies include volunteering, organizing events, shopping, reading, watching movies and TV shows…in her “free”time!
