I’m My Son’s Biggest Cheerleader

It’s that time of year again.  High school basketball season.  Two years ago, my made the JV basketball team.  So, for the last two years I have been going to the home JV basketball games during the week.  Luckily for me, my son’s school is not too far from my job.  I can leave work in enough time to make it to the games.  Now that he’s a junior, he is trying out for the varsity team.  The first round of tryouts was this past Monday.  He thinks that he did well enough to make it to the next round.  He’ll find out tomorrow.  I hope he and his friends/JV teammates make it.  It would be fun to see them playing together again for the next two years.  I must admit, I loved going to their games.  Even when they were freshman and didn’t get much playing time, the games were still fun.  I remember sitting through the whole game, just to see him play the last 30 seconds.  I even taped it on my phone for him.  It didn’t matter how long he played.  I was there to cheer him on.  He always knew he had my support. 

The funny thing is that he didn’t always appreciate me cheering him on.  When he played in a league in middle school, I was the loudest parent cheering from the bench.  I was so loud that sometimes my daughter and her father wouldn’t even sit near me.  I. Was That. Loud!  But I didn’t care.  I was there to cheer on my son.  And I didn’t cheer just for my son, I cheered for the whole team.  Why not?  They all needed to hear someone encouraging them to play well and praising them when they made a good play.  If I didn’t know a teammate’s name, I would call out their jersey number.  I just wanted the player to know that someone was cheering for him.  But for some reason, my son used to be embarrassed by my cheering.  I don’t know why.  Some of the other parents would just sit on the bench and act as if they were bored and wanted to be somewhere else.  How could they do that?  I just don’t understand.  Kids need to be encouraged.  Kids need to feel that their parents are supporting them.  What kid wouldn’t feel great hearing their parent cheering for them as they play their sport?  Can you imagine how good a kid feels when he hears his parent praising him from the stands?  Who knows?  Maybe my son was embarrassed because I was the loudest parent out there.  Oh well, that’s what I get to do.  After all, I am his mom.

Now here’s the funny thing.  As much as my son used to get on me about cheering him on back then, I believe he secretly enjoyed it.  What makes you think that, you ask?  Well, all during his JV season, whenever he had a home game, he would ask me, “Mom, are you coming to the game?”  He would actually look for me in the stands and would get on me when was late (I would tell myself that he was looking to make sure that I was there for him, not because I was bringing him the Gatorade he asked me to bring). 

So here he is again, trying out for the varsity team.  I hope he makes it.  I will be his biggest cheerleader out there.  Well, I guess his girlfriend and I will be his biggest cheerleaders.   Either way, I can’t wait to see what the new season brings.

Now, you future and new parents out there better rest up your vocal cords.  You’re going to need them to cheer your kids on because YOU should be their biggest cheerleader!

So now you know and you can consider yourself warned!