Who is this woman yelling in the stands?

Most of you reading this are well aware that I am not an athlete. Never claimed to be. I also would not call myself a sports fan. Okay, I don't really even have a mild interest in anything sports. At a FH party before we were even dating, Brian asked if I was attending the game tomorrow. "What game ?" I asked. He responded "The UK vs LSU game." I think Brian almost wrote me off at that moment. I am not sure his family has ever gotten over the introduction of a band geek.

I still care nothing for most college or professional sports. I follow UK from a distance, but I don't know players' names or even if UK is playing at any given time. I can't match teams to mascots or tell you where the Super Bowl is to be played. But..... When it comes to my own kids and Michael before them, it is a different story. I have yelled at referees and steamed over calls. I have felt personally effected by the outcome of games. I know details. I know rules. I have learned to catch a ball. I enjoy playing softball in the back yard and hearing the ringing sound as the metal bat in my hands connects with the ball firing from the pitching machine. I have heard the ball bounce off the window and corrected the bat swing instead of worrying about the window being broken. I think my mom thought I had lost my mind when I walked into her hotel room at Becky's wedding and corrected H's back handspring form instead of telling her to stop doing it on the bed. What has happened to me?

The worst has been over H's competitive cheering. Before joining this lunatic group, I did not understand and maybe even spoke badly of some of the things I have said, done and observed. Why would any parent put their child in this extreme world of 3 hour practices and long distance drives to competitions? Who wants the intense pressure of being scored and measured on a 2 1/2 minute routine? For us, the answer is simple. H would rather cheer than breathe. She has also been forced to develop discipline and a work ethic that no other activity has ever asked or required of her. She has learned to work through severe mental blocks. During one stretch, she seemed to lose all tumbling ability and could not manage the most basic flip. As I watched her break down on the floor, I fell apart on the arena concourse. This was not about winning or losing, but the mental strength we all need to push through the voices that are telling us we can't do something. She did it. She broke the vice around her mind and is now working on a back tuck. At an event shortly after Christmas, one of H's teammates over rotated in warm ups and cracked her knee on the floor. She hurt and wanted to cry, but the coach asked her for 5 more minutes. Give me five good minutes and then you can fall apart. She went out on the floor and filled her role as a base for every stunt before falling apart. How many adults still need to learn that even when we think we are at our absolute end, we sometimes just have to suck it up, hold it together and give more than we think we can do for 5 more minutes?

Athletics, (cheer, softball, football etc) is not about winning. No, it is not only fun if you win. It is not about making professional athletes although H says this is what she will do forever. It is not about giving parents or grandparents a way to live vicariously through their children. It is not about any one sport being better than another. It is about learning to stick with something no matter how hard. It is being trustworthy so that the girl you are throwing in to the air knows you will catch her on the way down even if you get hit in the face. It is about taking the hit for your teammate. It's giving more than you think you can and pushing yourself to a better you than anyone thought was possible. It's working for nothing less than victory, but playing by the rules and accepting defeat graciously.

No, I am still not an athlete. I still can't stomach the out of control parents who have caused some little league programs to demand silence at games, or whom think their child is heaven sent. I am however a true youth athletics fan. You can find me on Saturdays making a fool out of myself at cheer competitions, or basketball games or softball fields. I'll be the person with the cowbell in the blue wig. (okay, I haven't gone that far.....yet)