Emmitt's first season of Tackle Football

 We really did not know what we were getting into when we signed Emmitt up for his first season of real tackle football.  It was pretty intense.  Practices were 2 to sometimes 4 times per week and were always two hours long- once it was 4 hours long cause we scrimmaged another team after.  And it was always hot hot hot- even when we were practicing at 7-9- it was still hot- much better than the 5-7 practices- those were brutal. Then every Saturday we had games and they were all about an hours drive away.  A lot of time Dads injury kept him home so Emmitt and I had great bonding time on our road trips- It was always a full day ordeal- prepping for the heat with water bottles and ice and cooling clothes, then driving an hour to be an hour early, to wait and wait in the intense heat and usually the game didnt start on time and on and on it went. But Emmitt loved it and the team really grew and Emmitt really connected with the boys and they just all had a great time- or actually when they lost which was more often than not they took it hard- so maybe they weren't always happy or having a great time but they always were passionate about the game and the team.  He had a good coaches (though his Dad disagreed with the head coach on just about everything he did hahaha) but they cared about the team and the boys and they put in a lot of time so it was good and we were grateful to them.  So after losing almost the whole season we started to win at the very end when it counted and ended up making it to the championship game.  We lost that but it is absolutely incredible that they were able to improve so much and make it so far.  Most of the boys were new to tackle football like Emmitt so there was a lot of learning and most of the teams you play against have been together doing this for years so it was tough competition.  But it ended up being a great season- a classic comeback story.  Very epic.

This was taken at the end of season party that took place right after the championship game.  The team mom had these cookies made for the boys and they were so cute!

And heres just a bunch of team pics from throughout the season:

This one was just after they lost the championship game.  They got rings though and even though they were sad they should be so proud.  They held their own for sure.

His coach was quite the talker.  He gave a great speech- before, and after the game - maybe sometime to excess, ;) but he was great.

I love love love how they pray before and after games and practices.  This is Texas!

Sometimes I just thought nights at the practice field were just so beautiful.