On endings and people who flake off

[geoviki]

So my son played his last high school basketball game last Friday and, with that, his sports career comes to an end. He's decided that he's not going to pursue either football or basketball in college (even though he had some offers).

I'm not a very calm fan. Basketball is a fast-paced sport, and I get all wired just watching and hoping they do well. In fact, I take my mp3 player and shut myself in music when it gets too bad. So it's nice to think I no longer have to angst in the bleachers 3 times a week.

On the other hand, he's been heavily involved in lots of sports since he was about 6. He played two seasons of soccer and winter basketball since second grade. Two years ago he switched to football. The thing is, he's a very talented athlete. After playing football for only 2 years, he made all-state. He was just chosen first team all-conference for basketball, and it was a unanimous chose by all 16 league coaches.

And now...it's all over. No more practices, no more games, it's all ended, like turning off a switch.

It's a lot to take on board, to tell you the truth.

However, another reason I'm glad this season is over is that I became, against my own desire, the sole functioning board member of the basketball booster club. It's what has kept me stressed and busy since October. For those of you who haven't dealt with high school activities, especially sports, the days of the school district paying for stuff is long over. That means the teams have to come up with about $10-15,000 every year to run. Pays for uniforms, buses, various other stuff to keep the team running. The booster club is responsible for fund-raising.

Has this ever happened to you? This guy, B, and his wife pretty much were the booster club for the years their son was playing, but he graduated last year. Still, B insisted he'd be active with the booster club this year, he wasn't going to leave us in the lurch, blah blah blah. I was very nervous, being the only other board member and the one who'd have to pick up the pieces if things went pear shaped. The two of them pretty much kept me in the dark as to how everything was run because, of course, they'd be here for the club this year.

Well, one guess as to what really happened.

It would have been better if he'd just left. As it was, he was 'president' and 'treasurer' and yet did bugger all the whole year. So I couldn't replace him and didn't have the authority to act as president either. I ran the club de facto all year. Last night was my final event - I organized the banquet. And it's like any catered event - it was like pulling teeth to get people to RSVP, and then it was the same song, second verse to get them to pony up the money for dinner.

And that's where I've been the past month: chasing down idiots and planning a dinner for 100 people. Last night, I turned over all my stuff to the next officers and I'm donedonedonedonedone!

Yay!

You can watch highlights from his last game: http://www.jookt.com/media/1582-4a-1-sterling-vs-4-wheat-ridge

He's #21, in blue. He played center, if you pay attention to that sort of thing. That's him winning the tip-off.

Go, Farmers! (Okay, yeah, we're the Farmers. It's a marginally better team name than the Ft. Collins Lambkins.)

Comments

[pir8fancier.livejournal.com]

My son adores basketball, but after one single try out he said, I'm done. Nope, not doing that. The pressure at his high school to win is so intense that the kids practice three hours a day and on Saturdays. As he said to me, "Mom, I love playing basketball, but there's too much damn testosterone." He's playing in a funky league where he's hopelessly outclassed, but he's having fun.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Oh, I wholly understand. In my post I could have gone into the old-school mindset of our program that made me so singularly unfit for booster club duties. Our coaches were of the 'scream at 'em and throw tantrums' school of coaching that is so popular in America. I never could understand why it had to be that way. By senior year, there were 5 players left standing in a school of 1300. (Okay, half are girls...)

At any rate, this is why I couldn't finish my fic. Now you know the rest of the story. But my dance card is now empty, so I shall finish it, w00t! Again, thanks for saving my bacon.

[aliciajd]

Ho! Team names... One of Omaha's teams is the Benson Bunnies! They are a top team year after year in Nebraska. They wouldn't dare be anything other than fierce with that awful name.

[lemonade8.livejournal.com]

"and death awaits you all with nasty, big, pointy teeth!"

they could play the Monty Python angle, lol.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

My alma mater attempted, very briefly, to name its sports teams after a mythical beast. They gave up and started calling themselves the Pioneers after the original choice provoked nothing but hysterical laughter in opponents...and as proud an alumna as I am, I can't blame them.

I mean, what else could one do when the Smith College Unicorns took the court?

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I kind of like the name Unicorns! Too bad they caved.

[libby-drew.livejournal.com]

So there is an end to this someday? Between my three athletes, I feel like I eat, sleep, and breathe sports.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

There's an unexpected segue that happened Monday. The principal and athletic director want him to, um, join the track team now. He's giving it a try tomorrow. *sigh*

[photoash.livejournal.com]

:) Wow that is like an end of an era. *hugS*

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I feel bereft. Actually, I feel like I can finally get caught up on my MK texting.

[lemonade8.livejournal.com]

Resigning would have been better. Can I say that doing that to you and the team makes him a douche?

And my high school's team was called the Alices. The Farmers sound kind of butch when you think of it that way. I don't know which name is more masculating, though. The Unicorns is hard to beat... ;D

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Um, I think the Alices win, hands down. Except if the unicorns logo had any kind of rainbow on it.

[lemonade8.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and you can see they produce alumni that don't type the 'e' in 'emasculating.'

And, omg... I'm envisioning a 'my little pony' thing with the rainbows.

[mizbean.livejournal.com]

Our school couldn't have a fierce name like the cougars or the bulldogs. No, we were the Pioneers.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I've heard of 3 teams named Pioneers now. I guess it's kind of generic in a lot of towns.

It still beats Lambkins.

[henpecked.livejournal.com]

Growing up with a dad as a Sports Writer and later Sports Editor at a newspaper made me lose all interest in athletics. Well, plus being just awful at them. My sister, though? She plays soccer, softball, basketball and does cheerleading. She inherited all the athlete genes, obvs.

But I still love watching baseball.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I was awful at them, too, so the whole thing was terra incognito. His older sister did the choir/drama thing, which I understood much better.

[gabe-speaks.livejournal.com]

I don't mean to be the resident perv, but...


... your son is adorable.

I remember high school wrestling and football. Absolutely hated both, but there was something... sad when the season was over.

I think it's because I can't let shit go. :(


And people can be jerks! And when no one steps up to do anything, the parents complain that there's nobody doing anything--but then when someone steps up to do shit, then said parents pull jerk moves like everything you've mentioned [and probably a tonne of shite you haven't]. Bah!


Ah, wells...

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I think he's adorable, too, but I never tell him that. He's got enough of a fangirl battalion as it is. I've tried to explain that it's not normal to have people bend over backwards to please you. I see it when I got to school with him for registration. The girls turn it on like a switch when they see him.