Caden played his last Youth Football League game a couple of weeks ago. You can play in this league through the 6th grade, so that was the last game he will play with this league. When he started this league two years ago, we were not sure what to expect. He could have played in 3rd and 4th grade already, but we made the decision (for various reasons) to wait until he was in 5th grade to start. Overall, the experience was good and it has been a good first learning experience. If we were to measure the success of this program by wins and losses, it would have been a total failure. He went into the last game of the season never winning a single game…in two years! I am not going to go on and on about the character and maturity he displayed with each loss, because then I would just be bragging. But, I will say he has taught Bryan and I a lot about the importance of winning and losing. Sometimes we are humbled by our kids…in a good way.
He played d-end on the defensive side of the ball. Believe it or not, he actually made this tackle.
He’s number 10 and played the quarterback position on offense.
He showed huge improvement from last year in this position. He seemed more confident and actually enjoyed his role as team leader. It makes me SO nervous, but that is okay. The quarterback is either the hero or the goat, and no mother wants their child to be the goat!
On the way to his last game, he was telling Bryan and I how badly he wanted to win his last game. He was telling us how he just wanted to know what it would feel like to win a game. My heart just sank listening to him. I wanted him to win that game so badly. I don’t know if this was right or wrong, but I prayed the whole way to the game. I asked God to bless this little boy with just one win. I will let you decide how God answered that prayer by the smiles on his face in the following pictures.
By the sound of his cheering section you would have though he won the Super Bowl. We all knew how badly he wanted to win that game, so we were all pretty excited for him.
Cade with all his women! He complains about being the only boy, but those girls love him like crazy and the feelings are mutual. He’s got a big responsibility taking care of all those girls!
These are his two football coaches, Paul Hietbrink and Eric Vande Hoef. I can’t say enough kind word about these two guys (and their wives). They sacrifice many, many hours to mentor and teach these young boys. They both have little ones of their own, families, and jobs, and have taken time to make a difference in these young athletes lives. They helped develop Cade’s confidence and love for the game to a new level and we are grateful.
Tim, Bryan, and Dean helped coach as well. They told everyone that they were the “managers”. I think they were mostly “crowd control” on the side lines. That is a full time job with boys this age. I think that they counted to 11 hundreds of times this season. If they only counted 10, their job was to grab a kid by the jersey and throw ‘em on the field.
Congratulations Caden on your first win!!!! We are so proud of you. You are a joy to learn with. Love you.
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