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By the lovely Grace Farris.
P.S. Bedtime board game, and apple picking.
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I try to be “growth mindset” and succeed with the other children on the team…”nice try!” or “right idea!” Unfortunately, my own poor child gets the occasional “move your feet!” or “shoot!!!” Luckily none of these kids can hear a thing I’m saying!!
I enjoyed watching my high school-aged son play basketball, but I didn’t enjoy the fandom much (parents yelling at refs, etc). His senior year, the team needed helpers–a scoreboard keeper and a public address announcer. I had always enjoyed the public address at ballgames (have you ever watched the 90’s Chicago Bulls starting lineups? Incredible!), so I volunteered. I ended up becoming the public address announcer for both the girls’ and boys’ teams (and I occasionally do the scoreboard if needed). Watching the game from the other side of the court is much more interesting. I’m not near loud fans, and I am neutral–which fits my personality–as I take information from the refs and relay it to the fans. I have quite improved my knowledge of basketball, although I still don’t know it all. Luckily, the statkeeper is patient and has taught me quite a bit. I thought that perhaps people may not like a female announcer, but our fans have been quite supportive.
Emily, that is awesome!
Spot on. When my son did little league for a couple years, I heard all the dads yell “good contact” whenever a kid would hit the baseball but it would foul or be an easy pop fly. So I just repeated that relentlessly.
Same.
You know what’s hilarious? Watching back my attempts to record my kid on the field. I barely capture the action (flag football is hard to follow!) but the mic gets all my gasps, cheers, “go go gooooooo!!” There are so many emotions and it’s just second grade. I do not understand how parents get through high school sports!
And I love that this comic models all the good. Our sports association puts a big emphasis on parents behaving and it’s rattling when we play teams outside our conference with parents that scream-correct their kids.
i just yell “hustle” a lot and it seems to work out.
When some parents were getting wayyy to worked up my friend cheered “Go, Children!” I still laugh when I think about it.
I am so going to use that!
Or my personal favorite, from a fellow mom at a high school lacrosse game, at a point where play had devolved into just a bunch of adolescent boys whacking each other with sticks: “DON’T HURT MY BABY!” 🤣
My friend yells, “pain is temporary!”, every time her son is hurt on the soccer field. I’ve threatened to have it printed on a t-shirt for her.
I used to have a favorite parent at my former school for echoing. The one I constantly recycle when someone tries to go through a group of people is, “DON’T DRIVE RIGHT INTO THE TRAFFIC!” It will get nods of approval from my fellow spectators who have no idea I don’t know what I’m talking about. (Although I am hardcore invested in learning rugby now because I heart Ilona Maher like nothing else.)
I don’t really like sports and I’m not a very emotional person, but watching kids play sports makes me want to cry every time! I’m the person watching silently and holding back tears – for their bravery, courage, victories, disappointments, and even the miracle of their bodies running hard, developing skills, pushing through pain. Also hearing them encourage and cheer each other on . . . the teamwork and camaraderie . . .where else do you get all this?
I was the mom who brought a cooler filled with orange slices and drove players back and forth.
Same! My girl has played softball since she was 4 (her choice, as cousins were already into it). I am also close to tears through every game, having watched their sweet little faces as they bloom into now young women (now they are all 12 to 14), and the way they love and support their friends, teammates, even their rivals just…I dunno, breaks my heart a little, at what great humans they are, and why are we all not like that when we grow up?
Hahaha!
Too funny -Echo the person who seems to know what they r talking about – ‘seems’ lol
Ok so I am the mom in the “Somoz Verdu” shirt on the bottom but I really see my job as Soccer Mom to cheer for the kid closest to the ball so he can realize he should move toward it and get the glory!
And now when my kid is the goalie, he shouts all of the same words of encouragement I’ve always given to him and his teammates so I guess it’s an acceptable approach!
I am ALL these people. Nailed it.
💯
Cheermeisters! Loved this! Lol
This made me literally laugh out loud. I feel caught out, lol. I’m not remotely sporty or competitive, and my niece is ALL IN with a sport that I barely knew existed before she started. I love her, so I love going to her events, but I just cheer when crowd in the team section cheer!
I’m so curious about what sport! I keep imagining something obscure like curling but I’m completely honest if it were me it could easily be basketball or something similarly mainstream. Good on you for going to the games either way though, my aunts have always been my favorite cheerleaders!
Oh, gosh, sorry for the suspense! The sport is volleyball. It’s not the least bit obscure; I’m just _really_ not sporty. I have no idea if my high school even had a volleyball team (it was fairly large, so it must have?), yet here I’m following around her high school team through the state tournament (they won!).
Being the Cheering Aunt is the best! All the excitement, none of the pain. I have my own kids to worry about with their own stuff – but for my neices I get to cheer and hug whether they win or lose and then go home! I skip the early morning practices, extra training and PT appointments, and stress.
Me: by yelling at the very athletic men in tight pants to SACK THE QUARTERBACK.
HA! Just make sure you have the right sport on that one, or…it could be very awkward. I am partial to “very athletic men in tight pants” to will always try to slide into Homeplate because really, the fun of the game is to get dirt all over those tight pants, no matter what.
So very true! If I were to add at least one more category, it is, ‘women who knows more than man sitting next to her about said sport they are watching.’ That would be where I excel, my sports knowledge in the areas of professional swimming, anything olympics, NHL, and baseball far exceeding that of my husband. And let me tell ya, he’s damn proud that I know more than him when it comes to sports* too! (*except Soccer – he knows far more about this sport than I ever will)
It’s so fun cheering on athletes- like how courageous are they (whether in little leagues or the professional leagues) to keep trying and hoping you’ll succeed at something, when that chance is not guaranteed?
Ugh, entering the world of high school sports for the first time. He was cut from basketball last year and is playing this year. Tryouts were brutal, like rushing a frat. I’ll be watching, but I’ll be Silent Sara.
Growth midset in elementary & middle school :)
“Good idea” is so funny and loving, hahahaha.
My husband is a high school soccer coach and always yelling “good idea” and “unlucky” during our 7 year old’s soccer games. They seem like such sweet and gentle reminders while some of the other parents can yell quite aggressively.
Nailed it, Grace! That’s it exactly. I can never tell when goals are offside in my daughter’s soccer games, but I’ll scream it anyway.
My son plays on his high school team so he’s been playing for a long time. I still haven’t a clue when a player is offsides, so I’ll just scream in randomly when I’m frustrated! Haha
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