Last Game of the Season vs. Howell

JV Gold Panthers had their final game of the season. They played an evening game at the High School, underneath the lights. They played Howell Gold, a tough team, and lost 0-25.

It's funny to look back on this year in football with Nate. He knew that football wouldn't be easy this year and I remember driving him to his first practice and how nervous he was about being able to play as one of the new guys on the team. We had a similar conversation on the first day of full contact and again he wasn't sure how he'd do. We talked today in the car on the way to the last practice about how far he's come and how much he's learned. He loves football right now like I've never seen him love another sport. He quotes the coaches to me in both the things he's learned about team and about football all the time. As a Dad, I feel such pride in seeing Nate take a risk at something new, push himself out of his comfort zone, and learn, grow and be successful in a lot of ways and have fun doing it.

Nate had a great coaching staff and it was fun watching these guys shape the team and the team grow. His head coach played on a full-ride to Virgina Tech and his defensive coach played The coaches put around 160+ hours into this season just in terms of practices, games and game review. That's 160+ hours they could have been with their families and doing all of the things that need to be done. Instead, they chose to invest in this team and my son, and I'm really grateful.

Nate learned so much more than just football this year. He learned about accountability, about being a part of something bigger than himself, celebrating the victories of others, losing well and winning well, being on time, being responsible for his gear, his time, his attitude and his how his belief in himself impacts his performance in life. Apart from those things, Nate came out this year learning the fundamentals of football and he learned to really love the game.

It's interesting, that even thought Nate's team ended up at 2-6-1, the team's record never seemed to get him down. He loved winning, but what he loved even more was walking away from a game knowing he'd done his best. On the drive to practice, he would set three goals for himself in that practice and then on the way home evaluate how he did against them. He looked forward to every single practice and was really proud of himself that he was never late and never missed one. He was hard on himself when he wouldn't hit his goals and he'd learn from them, but it was so much fun to hear him tell me about all the things he'd done well and learned. He'd tell me about the individual 'atta-boys' he may have gotten from one of the coaches and would light up when he told me.

This was such a cool year, and as his Dad, I was so nervous for him. I think every Dad wants their son to go out and be great at something right off the bat. Nate walked on to a team with 21 guys who had played together for two years and knew the game very well. He was one of only five guys who hadn't played Panthers ball before. No Dad wants to see his son fail at something or learn things the hard way, but that's what happened with Nate. I think I was as nervous at his first day of practice, first day of full-contact and his first game as he was. To see Nate grow like he did and go through tough stuff, succeeding and failing, makes me so proud. The fact that he persevered even in 95 degree weather, grueling practices, lots of losses and injuries, reveals a ton about Nate's character and makes me a very proud Dad.