Chase Chronicals
It's Never Too Late to Pursue Your Passions
For the first 13 years of my son's life, it seemed like he had little to no interest in sports of any kind. We signed him up for baseball (his dad's passion) .. he was bored. We encouraged him to try lacrosse ... wasn't his thing. He had no interest in football (fine by me! lol) And eventually we landed on swimming. He was SO GOOD at that. Just sort of glided through the water and was so powerful and graceful. But, he didn't like it. It was exhausting all around because every time we'd tell him it was time to go to practice, etc. he'd get grumpy. So I didn't continue to fight him on it after a couple seasons.
I sort of just came to terms with the fact that he wasn't super passionate about athletics. But it seemed like he just wasn't super passionate about anything, which was sort of sad to me. But then when he was 13 a friend asked him if he'd join the wrestling team so that there were enough bodies to compete (they go to a small school). And so he did. He joined the wrestling team to help his friend. It was hard! The practices were intense and he lost every match (I think, in part, because he never expected to win because he was so far behind in skill and experience) BUT, he got in great shape and learned what it was like to be part of a team. Then the season ended, spring turned into summer and he asked for an outdoor basketball net. Of course we obliged. And he has been playing every day since! He started to watch hours and hours of recorded videos of anyone who was ever someone to know in the sport. He started watching every NBA game. He attended a couple with his dad and decided he wanted to go out for the basketball team (for the first time in his life, as a 9th grader in high school!)
Surprisingly, he made the team (although, again, small school). I was super proud of him for that. At first, it seemed like culture shock being on the court playing others (much different than playing one on one with someone in your driveway!) But day by day he put in the time, learned the plays and got time on the court.
This reminds me that it's never too late to start something new. Especially if it's something that you are passionate about! We had a conversation last night about the fact that he should really go out for Track & Field this spring to stay healthy, active, and build stamina for the next basketball season. He HATES the idea, but I may pull the mom card and sign him up anyway. Have any of you ever done something like that? Let me know how it went!?
Chase turns 15 tomorrow and I'm just so proud of the good, kind young man he's becoming. Whether his dreams of playing basketball in college and the NBA ever come into fruition or not - I'm super proud of him for pushing himself out of his comfort zone and just going for something. When he had virtually no skill, absolutely no practice, didn't know anyone (players or coaches) and is more reserved by nature. It's cool to see him come into his own and I feel blessed to have a front row seat on this journey with him <3
