Dedication of a Young Boy

Dedication of a 12 year old boy. Four years ago on July 23rd my son wanted to play football for a little league organization Pop Warner. He was twelve years old and weighed 203 pounds. They had a weight limit of 160 pound in order to play for his age and weight group he would also be playing with 13,14,15,16 year olds in the same division. We showed up at the field and talked to the people in charge about if they thought it was possible for him to lose all that weight by the beginning of sept in order to be able to play for the season, which was 51 days away. So that meant he needed to lose 44 pounds in 5 days. They looked at us like we were crazy and said there is no way possible for him to do that. But I could always come back next summer and give let him give it a try. I said to him, “are you sure this is what you want son.” He said, “Mom I have never been more sure”. So I signed him up for football.

We both knew this was going to be nearly impossible, but he said he got this. SO I hired him a personal trainer and a gym membership on July 23rd 2012. This twelve year old boy worked day in and day out, morning afternoons, evenings, every chance he could. All summer long. Personal trainer, strict diet, and football practice every day. There were many times that he wanted to give up and I would not let him. Once school started he went to the gym before school and after school then to practice. For 51 days I saw complete and utter dedication and commitment. This twelve year old boy was doing it. We could see the weight coming off him very easily. He gave everything he could give. Finally it was certification day, the beginning of Sept. We were all so nervous. We went to the gym before the weigh in and he got on the gym scale. No one would let us look at what it said. My son and myself and his personal trainer then went to the place where they football league was conducting the certification process.

My son got on that scale and it said 159.4. He did it he had lost 44 pounds in 51 days. He could now actually play football. We cried all the way to the football field. When we arrived everyone on his team was waiting for us to find out if he had made the weight requirement or not. All the people who said he would never had been able to accomplish what he did were completely shocked he had lost all that weight.

He then played for Pop Warner for the next two season. Still always watching what he ate and how much he weighed because they still had the weight limit. It did go up both years by 10 pounds which was awesome. In the off season he also played 8 on 8 arena football. Two years ago he was at practice for 8 on 8 team and they were doing defensive drills with each other and someone landed on his left leg. Being a mother I heard the most gut wrenching scream coming from the field so I looked over and I saw my son on the ground screaming like I had never heard before. I ran down to the field to him and he said, “Mom it is over, I am done, I will never play again.” I said bubs you will be ok. He was rushed to the hospital via ambulance and it was there that we learned he had a very nasty lateral tib-fib fracture. They temporary secured it and set us up an appointment at the orthopedic. We went to the orthopedic few days later and found out that the leg had actually became displaced and he needed surgery right away. The next morning he was in surgery I felt so bad for him. All his hard work and dedication gone. The surgeon came out and told me that they had to put in an 8 inch plate and screws in his left leg. He was about to start spring football in high school that same week. All his hard work just came crashing in front of him. He had a rough couple of months ahead of him. I knew he could handle it. He wasn’t very confident about being able to ever play again. All I could do was keep encouraging him not to give up on his dream and his dedication on how far he has come and what he has gone through to make it where he was.