Courageous… (Part III)
One last football story. This time with my youngest daughter who decided to play football. She was the only girl in the youth league in Beaverton, Oregon. Fastest and most coordinated, the coaches wanted her to play quarterback. A couple of mothers decided that wasn’t a good idea… didn’t like the idea of a girl’s hands under center.
So, she played wide receiver, safety, and kick returner. Her very first game, it was raining (go figure… Oregon) and the field was extremely muddy. The ball squirted around and she scrambled to pick it up, took one step and got blasted… pancaked by a rather large kid running full speed. My wife remarked, “Maybe the football experiment will end early.” But she pushed the kid off her, sprung up and ran off the field like nothing had happened. The next kickoff return, she was sprinting down the sidelines fearlessly past the would be tacklers.
After a fun, successful season, the football experience was over. Back to playing soccer… and softball, basketball, track. Our daughter has taught us over the years… don’t worry about what other people think, take risks, explore, have fun… you only live once.