On endings and people who flake off
Mar. 16th, 2009 04:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
geovikiSo 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.)
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.)
