I have been thinking about my sons quite a bit lately, and how they are growing up so fast. My oldest is now 7 and I can remember when I was a seven year old boy. I loved playing all kinds of sports, or in fact, anything with a ball. I had plenty of friends to play with in our neighborhood and all of us had a certain bond with the idea of playing, baseball, football, basketball and other games that we could play that allowed us to be competitive with each other.

I also look back now and realize that my dad was usually too busy or too tired or many other things that didn’t allow him to do much with me as a son and father did in those early years as it related to sports. Our time would come later in life when we became best friends after I got married and started spending time with him on his turf, going hunting and enjoying the outdoors.

One of the things that I really wanted to make sure and do as a father and promised myself I would accomplish, was to teach my own children and boys about that passion in my life. The love of the game. Not because I want to force them into being athletes, not all enjoy the sports I played like I did. I often quip that I would have never graduated school unless I had not had to be there for practice. I want them to see someone with the passion for something and learn from that no matter what they choose as their own passion.

Now I have an opportunity to make good on that promise to show my boys about my passion for sports. To show them the thrill of victory the agony of defeat and all of those other cliches. I can show them the joy I get and perhaps experience the joy they may also have. I can teach them the little things that made me a top performer and perhaps some of the life lessons that sports taught me. I can still feel the excitement in my blood and veins as the thrill of scoring a touchdown, hitting a home run or winning the game for my team. I feel giddy as a school boy when I think of that time. I can change myself into that boy again and show my boys. The man I have become and the man that shines in me all started as a boy who loved to play the game. Perhaps as a boy again I can teach my boys to be men.

[Photo courtesy of ajagendorf25]