Zack and Football

"Nobody knows what a boy is worth and the world must wait and see, for every man in an honored place, is a boy that used to be."

Well, I had hopes and dreams that Zack would be the next Brett Favre, a quarterback for the NFL, but that dream came and went in a matter of 7 days.

He started HELL week (as they call it) with two hours of conditioning in the hot summer heat. Zack did pretty well, considering he had spent two months playing video games, with not much cardiovascular activity. He only had trouble with the running, but it proved to be his downfall. He would run out of breath, they wouldn't let him walk, and he would panic, thinking he was going to die. His coach was unsympathetic despite me and Sammy's attempts to get him to understand and work to help him over this little hurdle.

He survived that week, but when he wore the full pads the following Monday, it happened again and he couldn't catch his breath. The coach came and screamed at him. I was furious with Zack as well out of total frustration. He was a mess and we had to go home. Tuesday we went and talked to the Director of the Rec office to see about possibly moving him down one level, but he felt the coach on that team was equally as tough and it would be best to try and work it out. He assured us the coach was a "good guy" and would work with Zack and promised to talk with him. I all but forced Zack to go to practice, even through his tears, but I asked him to give the coach a chance to change. Well, it didn't work. The assistant coach was screaming at him and walking towards him like a bull in a bullfight, Zack was scared to death I think. The head coach came over after practice and gave Zack the same lecture he had given the past two times. Saying he need to work hard and give his all, well, Zack was giving his all and working very hard. When I mentioned he gets scared about not being able to catch his breath, he said "there was nothing he could do about that." It was clear he had no intent on helping Zack get over this breathing hurdle which would only have taken a day or two, so I allowed him to quit. I hated to see him go through that, and what is so sad is that he HATES the game of football now. And what is worse is that he didn't even get to play the "game" of football. So it was ruined for him before it even got started but the jerk of a coach who couldn't have some compassion and care for a kid who just needed a little help. Very sad.

Here is a picture of Zack on the first day he had to wear pads, he looks a little like Frankenstein!