GO BLACKHAWKS!

GO BLACKHAWKS!

Mike and I have been yelling that phrase almost every weekend for the past 2 1/2 months. And today we wrap up Zach's first football season as a Gremlin Blackhawk as Super bowl champs! Undefeated to boot! So great. The Super"snow" game as I like to call it was played in beautiful Chardon, OH where lake effect snow is a common occurence and today, Saturday, November 6, was no exception. We arrived to a field completely covered with about 3 inches of the white stuff - the first of the season. The boys and the families were prepared with layers of UnderArmour garments, hats, gloves, boots, blankets and of course, the ever popular hand and toe warmers!

The game was just great - with the first touchdown at the very end of the 2nd quarter and the second one with less than 1:30 left in the 4th quarter. So cool. The coaches speeches and the trophy ceremony afterwards was really moving too. I'm just so proud of the boys, the coaches and the parents for such a great family experience. Because you see this whole football thing is really a family commitment.

When we signed Zach up to play back in May, I don't think I really understood the extent to which we were ALL were committing to this. I decided to figure out the stats just for fun...

Three (3) weeks of conditioning 5 days a week for two hours: 30 hours
Eleven (11) weeks of practice 3 days a week for two hours: 66 hours
Ten (10) games (season and play-offs) with 1 hour practice and 1 1/2 game: 25 hours

That comes to a grand total of 121 hours over a period of about 3 months! Now that is commitment!

But was it all worth it? Absolutely! And not just because they won the big game. That was very cool, yes, but I would say the intangible benefits of putting in all this time was the real win this year...such as...

...seeing my husband get so excited and committed to something that he was not quite familiar with. He helped out with many practices, ran the chains at many games, and even shoveled snow off the field!

...seeing Zach get excited about physical activity - wanting to run extra wolverines!

...having our family all cheer for the same thing...watching my husband spend literally hours on two different occasions designing and producing car art to cheer on the team!

...seeing the boys improve over the weeks of practice - achieving their own and their teams' goals

...being inspired by excellent, disciplined, and caring coaches who took the time and patience to actually teach the boys without yelling and criticism

...watching Nick help out and teach his brother some football basics and then cheer him on at practices and at a game

Finally, the most impressive thing for me that I took away from this experience was seeing the boys go back to encourage and "run-in" the slower players during Wolverines.

Yes, the Hudson Blackhawks stand by their values of Faith, Family, Finish, and Focus. But I would add one more: First-Class.