One of My Life's Little Pleasures as a Dad...

My 5 year old daughter and I do basketball "lessons" every weekend at our local JCC. We practice dribbling, passing and shooting (as much as a 5 year old can) for about 15 minutes before we swim. It's my favorite time of the week.

She's not much of team sport player, because her personality is to be somewhat passive and she gets easily offended, but I hope that she'll play basketball so we can have that it common.

 

Even after my parents split up my dad and I were big on playing catch and wiffle ball ... That's kind of changed now to golf, and even though we live two and a half hours away one of us finds time about once a month from March to November to make the trip to play a round. We can have conversations now that I'm 28 about his job with the government and politics and sports that we just couldn't seem to carry on when I was in my teens. It's just as much fun as thought wiffle ball games were, especially now that I win most of the time ;D

Plus, as he's approaching 50 it's fun to make fun of his 235 yard drives when mine are going 275 or so.

 

Enjoy every moment, fellas.

I've watched my kids play soccer, baseball and basketball over the past dozen years. And played many a game of wiffle ball, catch or one-on-one.

My oldest settled on hoops and is a damn good rec league player. Not quite good enough for the high school team, but a true pleasure to watch play. My youngest did the soccer and basketball thing, but it became apparent early on, he just wasn't into organized sports and we mutually agreed to set all that aside a few years ago.

Well, the oldest has one last hurrah ahead--his all star tournament starting this weekend. A few more games, for sure 2, maybe up to 5 to enjoy watching, and then it's done and off to college in the fall.

The father-son moments will still be there, but they'll just continue the transition already underway to golf and tennis. Which isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, those sports probably lend themselves better to true bonding time, more meaningful discussions and conversations.

But, there's a certain enjoyment, a certain adrenalin rush that comes from watching them play competitive sports. A joy unlike very few other other things I've experienced in life. To celebrate their successes from the sidelines, to try and mentally will the ball in the hoop or into the glove, to offer comfort and guidance afterwards when maybe things didn't go so well.

And when that final buzzer goes off some time during the next week, there's probably going to be a dad in the stands with a little lump in his throat and maybe a tear in the eye watching proudly, yet wistfully as his child transitions from this phase of life to the next.

Cherish every moment, fellas.

 

A constant reminder I have is that ironically one of my favorite songs in the 70's was Harry Chapin's (thank you Shockey; got it mixed up with "My Girl Bill" what an idiot) "Cats in the Cradle." I just liked the rhythm of the song; then as I got older I listened to the lyrics and thought how I'm not going to be that kind of dad.

I do enjoy every moment.

 

it was the late, great harry chapin who wrote and performed 'cat's in the cradle,' one of the great father-son songs ever:

and cat stevens, my fave pre-jackson browne and bruce springsteen, wrote 'father and son' -- another terrific, bittersweet ode to fathers -- before he went all muslim on us:

 

THIS x 10000000!!! I always think about this and I'm 23. Just like a sports fanatic would...

 

Baseball was too uber-competitive around here for my kids, and too conformist to boot. However, all three played soccer at various times, although the oldest lost interest in all sports pretty early. Still, I was the one who usually carted them around to practice and games, and I wouldn't trade that for anything.

My middle child got to where he loved soccer, and refereed after he passed out of the rec league. He didn't have any shooting skills, but he played a mean right back. His teammates called him Crash, for a reason. He's developed in interest in football as an adult, and we've gone to several Saints games over the past couple of seasons.

My daughter played soccer until she was 12, and could only play for a limited time because she had seasonal asthma and didn't have much stamina. Her last team was a very talented group, several of whom went on to play college, and she was probably the worst player on the team, but her coach loved her. Called her the toughest kid he ever coached, because when she was on the field, she gave it everything she had.

A couple of things about my boys, who are 25 months apart in age: When they were about 8 or 9, they were continually bitching at each other over everything, so for Christmas one year, we got them boxing gloves. If they got to ya-yaing too much, we'd stick the gloves on, send them out back and let them have at it. Oh, they loved that. A few years later, though, that wasn't adventurous enough. Oh no, not for those two. One night I heard some clanging noises from the back of the house. I investigated and found them having a sword fight with butcher knives. They thought that was great fun. It's a wonder they survived puberty. :-X

 

no offense, albert, but while i totally appreciate the enjoyment you've had being a 'soccer dad' -- seeing your boys give themselves memories for a lifetime through any activity is off-the-charts heartwarming -- but i dunno that fathers and sons kicking the ball back and forth to each other has yet come close to replacing, 'dad, wanna have a catch?' for fathers and sons in this country.

i don't envision today's kids, all of whom play youth soccer, it seems, growing up to be dads and thinking, 'man, i can't wait until i can kick the ball around in my son!'

oh, there will be many dads that do kick it around with their sons. heck, lord knows i sure did with my three stooges. the biggest reason youth soccer is so huge in this country now is that ANY kid can go out there, run around and kick a ball if it comes near him.

but the work we put into teaching our sons to use a mitt to catch a baseball and to slowly but surely throw it back with some authority, well, the time and work and skill-set required to reach the level where, 'wanna have a catch?' becomes a heart-tugging moment is incomparable, imo.

hell, even if my kids never wanted to play any form of organized baseball i'd think they'd still be interested in 'having a catch' with their dad.

 

I am in the same boat but with a 3 year old. I have an in-ground hoop I installed in the driveway which is not the norm up here in hockey country.

One of the requirments when my wife and I bought our house 6 years ago was for a flat drive-way and flat street as I always thought my version of "Dad, wanna have a catch" was going to be "Dad, wanna play some HORSE?".

 

To me: "Dad wanna have a catch" has always been "Dad, want to play catch?"

 

When both are men, it is having a catch.

They are not playing with each other (no jokes, please), but they are being with each other.