Joshua

I wish I had a picture of Joshua playing football (I need a digital camera!), but I don't so this one will have to do.....

Joshua home schools through a small Christian school that formed a football team this year. Joshua is the quarterback. They played their second game last night and Caleb, Noah, Charity, and I went to support him. Very interesting game. First of all, it's flag football but there is still plenty of physical contact and of course they aren't wearing helmets or pads. Second, it was two Christian schools playing each other but the opposing team didn't seem to have a "fair game" in mind. The referee for the game was the head of that school and overlooked penalties and tackles from his players. One of our kids got tackled so hard, he actually got hit in the face with a fist and was bleeding. Joshua pointed it out to the ref, who responded "I didn't see it....". The other school also had one of those intense, yelling, screaming coaches who not only verbally abused his own players but ours too. He called Joshua "pretty boy" among other insults and was allowed to get away with it. Our center would get tackled so hard and so quickly that he kept snapping the ball way out of Joshua's reach, causing him to chase after it and get piled up on by the other team. This was definitely a lesson in patience and endurance for our team! The coach would call time-outs to encourage the players. calm them down, and remind them to keep Christ-like attitudes. We were tied with the other team in the last quarter. Our team scored a touchdown which would have won, but Joshua's flag got pulled after he threw the ball but the other team fussed about it, and of course the ref didn't see it, so he called for a replay. They fought it out for three overtimes til our team scored again and won the game. I was so proud of my kid and his teammates.