Hanging up the Cleats
The other day, the McMullen family experienced one of those difficult moments families go through. A fork in the road, a milestone, a turning point, the end of an era so to speak.
The simple explanation is that we experienced a CHANGE.
The more complex explanation is that it was a difficult CHANGE - a painful one - the kind that often comes with tears, and the desire to just go back to the way things were.
So what changed?
Soccer changed. After a short phone call with a coach, soccer was done. Over. And probably for good.
A few years we go a taste of what this might look like. In her junior year of high school our eldest daughter determined soccer wasn’t her goal in life. She had so many other things she was interested in, and so she quit club soccer and played out the rest of her soccer career with her high school soccer team.
We were sad, but at the same time glad she had the independence and strength to do what she knew was right for her.
And, we still had soccer in the family…
Our youngest still played club soccer. So the nights of driving to practice, weekend games and the occasional out-of-town tournaments continued.
Until that day a few weeks ago…
If Tyler was playing soccer at 5, that means he has played soccer for 10 years of his life!
Along that journey he was also able to play other sports he was interested in. To the point where one year he was playing three travel sports at the same time (not recommended).
This went on for a few years, but when you become a teenager, things change. Coaches start demanding more of you. Travel sports stop having “sessions” and become year-round commitments.
When Tyler entered high school - this became brutally obvious when he signed up for football. The coaches let us know up front they owned our child. And not just for the regular season. We had joined a family that would be together for 4 long years - through regular season, off season, summer workouts, etc.
At this time Tyler was still playing travel soccer, and had just been accepted on the high school hockey team. So we tried our best to juggle all three - but it became clear - something had to give. Tyler had to choose, and eventually soccer got the short end of the stick.
Which brings is to the change mentioned above…
Tyler’s soccer coach set up calls with each player near the end of the season to let them know if they would remain on the team for the next year. And while Tyler was offered a position, he had to let the coach know that he would not be returning due to his other athletic commitments.
And just like that, soccer came to an end for Tyler, and for us.
Later in the week I went down to his room and saw the cleats hanging from his door - symbolically showing the change in his life.
There were tears as he realized the finality of the decision. And though we talked about soccer always being a part of his life - that he could play for fun, with friends, and eventually with his kids - it was still a moment of loss.
CHANGE is hard. But there are two ways you can look at it:
Be sad, be angry and dwell on it negatively for a long time
Realize that change is nothing more than a door opening up a whole new room of possibilities
For Tyler, we can’t wait to see what this change brings. It opens him up to really focus on football and hockey. But maybe that isn’t the only perk. Maybe there are other things just waiting inside the room for him to explore
Landing the plane:
Where do you find yourself this week?
Obviously we’re going through a time of incredible change. But this isn’t change we chose, or asked for. These changes are being forced upon us by COVID-19 and our government.
We still need to determine our response to the changes - and I’d recommend looking for the positives - and the light at the end of the tunnel.
But we’re still going through changes NOT related to COVID-19. Changes like Tyler just went through.
So have you been through changes like that this week? This month? This year? Difficult decisions you had to make that would change your life forever?
Best Bad Choice decisions?
Two choices that are bad - so you have to choose the “lesser of two evils” so to speak
Irreconcilable Good decisions?
Two decisions that appear good - but by choosing one, the other does not get to happen
If so, just know you aren’t alone. CHANGE is here to stay. It’s part of the Human Condition. And as we’ve all heard:
“The only thing that never changes is change itself.”
Keep Transcending Human through the changes that come your way…
Have a great week!