OK my oldest son's team lost their final game the other night. They were tied with one of the local high school rivalry teams for third in the division after loosing 2 of the previous 3. In loosing that game they were pushed out of a chance to be in the playoffs for one last season. But to me that is secondary to the lessons they learned over the time they have had playing on this team. They ended the season with a 5 - 3 record and ended their youth football run with 48 wins and 9 losses in 6 seasons of playing youth football.
This year was the most mentally challenging year that I have ever had in coaching football at any level. I don't know if it was hormones kicking in or what but we could not get one complete game in on offense or defense. We didn't push them nearly as hard as we could have since we only had 21 players and we wanted to make sure that they were in good shape physically for the season without beating each other up so much.
I hope these kids go on and continue playing football through high school as I think they will be a special bunch with good tight friendships and chemistry on and off the field.
