Andrew And Basketball . . .

Andrew begged and begged us to let him try out for basketball.  We tried putting him off as long as we could because we didn't want him to get upset if something happened.  But he kept asking, so we finally gave in.  They've had tryouts the last few weeks and at the last tryout, they assigned the teams.  Well guess what?  He's on the C Team.  The lowest team.  And the look on his face when he walked over to me after they assigned the teams just broke my heart.  THAT'S why we didn't want him trying out.  We didn't want him to get upset.  You see, Andrew is not very athletic.  As much as he likes watching and playing sports, he'll never be great at them.  He's a brain.  He's VERY smart.  He's good at SCHOOL.  But not at sports.  And yet, he still wants to play.  

So that night, and again the next morning, he's talking to me about how bad he is at sports, everyone else is always better than him, and he doesn't want to be on the lowest team.  I explained to him that if he was on one of the higher teams he'd probably never get to play OR practice, because there are so many kids on those teams.  By being on THIS team, he'll get to practice at every practice, and likely play most of every game.  He wants to get better, and sitting on the bench isn't going to help him get better.  Actually getting out there and PLAYING and practicing is what's going to make him better.  He actually sat on the floor and cried the next morning because of the team he was on.  THAT'S why we didn't want him to try out.  So I told him all of the same things again.  He told me he'll be okay, he just has to get used to it.  And that's Andrew.  He can adjust to most things, but he DOES have to have the time to get used to it.  That morning, right before he got on the bus he looked at me and said, "mommy, I'm going to be okay."  Then he got on the bus.  When I was telling the story to someone he said, 'so not only do you get HIM, but he gets YOU too.'  I had never seen it that way, but he's right.  Andrew has always been tuned into me and how I'm feeling.  I think he told me that because he didn't want me worrying about him while he was at school.  And you know what?  I really didn't.  But I WOULD have, if he hadn't said that.  So yeah, I guess he DOES get me, huh?!