Flag Football: The Shock

We've been LOVING the whole flag football thing this season!  J's team, The Shock, is made up of the cutest little boys and has two great coaches.

The pics I took are from two different games (since I'm so terribly far behind on blogging, I figured this is the only way I'll get any pics/posts up).  I'll start with J's fan section, where we yell, not cheer:

 J's ready in the middle.

Hand off!

Hots & J on the left

Their favorite part of the game (besides snacks at halftime) is the tunnel they run through afterward.  It's a BIG deal.

One happy guy; remnants of eye black on his cheeks

HUGE treat was having cousin Grant at the game!

Kaydie and Bonnie were there, too!

Here's what our fan section looks like on a 50 degree morning:  

 

This whole thing-organized sports which I didn't play...which is every sport except basketball-is so new to me and I'm learning a lot as we go.

At the first game the lady next to me asked for our team name so that she could "cheer for everyone."  This was strange to me at first, though now I appreciate everyone encouraging all of the boys.

Five minutes later it occurred to me to ask her team's name so I could yell for them, too.

We also don't keep score.  Well, we keep score, but technically there's no winner or loser-a word which is probably considered profanity these days. 

A couple of weeks before the first game I received an email from the team mom asking each of us moms to chose a date to provide snacks.  I claimed my date immediately, thinking it best for me to choose the earliest one available so as not to feel pressure/disappointment/inadequacy/insecurity to those Pinterest moms who'd no doubt provide fabulous/creative/delicious/mind-blowing-to-me snacks.  Talk about issues.

Shortly after I received her very nice response suggesting I choose a game date as opposed to a practice date.  How in the world did she not respond sarcastically?  Good lesson all the way around and I still got my early date.  :)

And, finally, my most entertaining learning experience.

It was at that first game, shortly after I'd asked the lady her team's name so I could do my part to her cheering for our team.  I was all in.

I clapped and yelled on every play, then repeatedly (& loudly) complimented "that number 9 out there," saying, "he's fast and plays excellent on both sides of the ball," and "I can tell he's played before, number 9's quite the athlete!" which he was.

It was sometime after halftime when I noticed that my J's number was 9, too.

We're diving in and having a blast!  And I've got a lot to learn over these next 15+ years.  :)