Our Fall sports seasons are over.
Usually Cross Country ends, followed a week or so later by Volleyball. Then Football goes on for a few more weeks in Kansas, especially for our hometown team. Eight trips to the High School State Championship in ten years kind of spoiled us. We’ve been used to November football for so long that this year seems really odd, not being in the playoffs.
It’s especially bittersweet, as my oldest son is a Senior. Football isn’t in the cards for college, so he’s now played his final football game. Fortunately, he was the sole captain for that game, started, and had an amazing game at a new position that he started playing that week. Pretty astounding ending to his eight year football career.
So last Friday, all our High School sports were over.
But in the Hectic Household that didn’t mean too much. By Saturday all three High Schoolers were training for their next season. The boys (Freshman and Senior) were already working out for wrestling. My Junior daughter started conditioning for track and attended an open gym for club volleyball tryouts. She’ll have a tryout this weekend for a traveling team.
Our youngest is still playing volleyball (with Mom as coach) in a season-capping tournament this weekend. She’s also continuing with gymnastics and swimming. Those go pretty much year round, although she’s opted not to participate in competitions for either. At least not yet.
Meanwhile, my wife and I are playing co-ed volleyball. It’s just a recreational league, but our 50 year-old bodies sometimes try to act like they’re in better shape than they are. Then the next day hits and we’re reminded that we’re getting older.
Also, my wife (successfully) and I (not so successfully) workout on a very regular basis. Weights, treadmill, bike, elliptical. You name it, we dabble in it. She’s much better about sticking to things, and our levels of fitness attest to that.
But the point that I wanted to focus on (because I’d rather ignore my inability to stick with a fitness plan…I’ll beat myself up for that another day) is that my kids just jump from one sport to the next, without missing a beat.
It’s part of the reason that they excel. They don’t ever get to the point where they lose their fitness, even a little bit. My older son, Jared, tells me that football conditioning and wrestling conditioning are entirely different…so I’ll have to take his word for it. Nevertheless, he’s also a decathlete, so he’s fit in so many ways it’s not even funny. I just don’t see him sucking wind like I do when he’s doing conditioning. Maybe that’s difference between being 18, in the prime of your fitness and being 50 with your prime so far in the past that the “mists” of time are more like pea-soup fog.
But all three of my high schoolers are teaching me something again. It’s not about starting and stopping fitness programs. It’s all about staying fit all the time. No matter what sport you’re in or not in, you ought to be working towards a fitness goal all the time. Maybe I’ll never get back into the shape I was at 18 (ok, there’s not really a “maybe” about it), but I can be as fit as I can be. Yeah, I sound like an add for the US Army there, but it’s really true. There is a level of fitness that I can attain. And there’s really no reason that I can’t attain it, except for my own stupid self.
I’ve preached about F.C.E.C. (see my post at https://www.hectic-dad.com/hectic-dad/?p=48 to read about it). Unfortunately, I’m having trouble taking my own advice to Focus, Commit, Execute, and Complete when it comes to my fitness.
But I have to start somewhere. So I’m throwing it out there into the blogosphere. I’m actually starting (ok, restarting) my fitness journey today.
How about you? While New Year’s resolutions are great and all, there really is no reason to delay. Wanna join me and travel the fitness road together?
If not…what’s holding you back?
