Return of the Team Mom

My son has been involved in sports for the majority of his young life. He's quite an athlete and demonstrates a great deal of natural talent in the sports that he plays. He has rotated through soccer, flag football, basketball, and a few seasons of track, too.

For most of his sports journey I have served as a Team Mom or Co-Team Mom. Last soccer season, however, Caleb played on a new team and another mom had the job (and did a phenomenal job). It felt great to enjoy the practices and games without doing team business on the sidelines. But, my turn as Team Mom seems to have "naturally" returned!

Caleb has recently joined a different football league with a coach who previously coached him in basketball and flag football. The new league is more intense than what we've experienced and has more responsibilities for the Team Mom. Caleb's coach called the other night asking if I would take on the Team Mom role again as I had done when he previously coached Caleb. I hesitated to officially accept this time (must be a new me) since I might be juggling some personal goals of mine with this new and intense season Caleb's about to undergo (something he really wants to do!).

I told Coach I would help out in whatever way I can, but I hesitated to officially accept the job. He assured me that his wife would help, too. "Of course I'm always willing to help out," I said, "but I don't know if I can commit to the title. I'm sure we can find another mom who will be more fully up for the challenge, so I'll be happy to help coordinate assistance," I stated.

"But, I want someone in this role that I know and can trust," Coach explained. He has seen my team-mom work in action, so he knows I give it all I've got. I guess he wanted to stay in his comfort zone. I was starting to bend a bit; I told him I'd think about it.

In any event, at last night's parent meeting, when Coach introduced me to one set of parents prior to the start of the meeting, he said, "Penny's going to be one of the team moms, but she just doesn't know it yet." We laughed. Then, later, when addressing all of the parents as he went through the rules and such of the league, he announced me as precisely that: a team mom. I just went with the flow of it all and fell right into the role at the meeting...receiving and filing paper work, etc.

Later, I said to my husband, "Hmmh, well, how did that happen? I hadn't even officially accepted this role, but then there I was...hands-on with it, as usual. Wonder what made Coach announce me as team mom when I hadn't confirmed I would do it as yet."

"Everyone just knows your passion," Collin said. He's right. I am my son's biggest fan and it's hard for me to not let that cross over to Team Mom stuff (officially or unofficially) -- which helps the team as a whole.

I recall when a commercial starring NFL player Donovan McNabb and this teammates was airing fairly often.....McNabb's mom was shown doing the Mom thing with the guys. Whenever I saw that commercial, I would always pause, smile and imagine me being a Team Mom of some kind for a professional team that Caleb might someday play on! There have been times that I could never imagine myself not being a Team Mom!

I think Caleb's coach knows that, too, and perhaps that's why he didn't feel the need to wait for an "official" answer from me. He knew the answer in my heart although my mouth was saying something else, I guess. :-)

Now that that's taken car of, however, we all have key parts to play during Caleb's football season: Collin is serving as one of the coaches, I'm helping out in a Team Mom capacity, and Caleb will be on the field helping his team to score those touchdowns. Each of us is a piece of a bigger puzzle -- for our family and for the team!

Now that's a touchdown!