Football - Matthew

Well, this is the first year for Matthew and he chose football over soccer, which was a big deal. He really enjoys soccer and he is good at it. We talked with him over the last few months and told him that if he wanted to try football, this was the year to do it. He agreed and off we went.

He seems to like it. The conditioning didn't seem to be a problem, with the exception of an asthma attack the 2nd night. I think it had to do with the grass and pollen and excessive heat. He was on his 2nd lap around the field, had just sprinted past Rick, Kara and I and we were commenting on how comfortable he looked. then, it happened...he stopped, almost in his tracks, bent over. I wanted to go right over to him, but Rick and Kara made me wait. His coach, Steve Blankenship, had an eye on him and actually thought he was throwing up. After a few seconds, Steve walked over to him when he realized he wasn't going to throw up. Matthew and Steve got his helmet off of him and they talked for a minute. Steve kept a close eye on him and they slowly walked over to get Matthew some water. Once they got water, Steve motioned for Coach Rutherford and Steve headed across the field to get me. By that time, I was out of my chair and on my way across the field. All steve said was "does he have asthma". I said yes and he said "do you have an inhaler?" and off I went to the car. Matt was obvoiusly upset and a bit under stress, but we got his inhaler in him and he was able to calm down. We changed his medicine schedule, put him back on Zyrtec and added his xopenex inhaler 20 minutes before practice after a call to Dr. Laura. All was well.

The 1st day of pads was soooo cute. They all think they want to hit each other, cause that's football, but when it comes time to do it, they are still only 8 years old and a lot of them are timid. Matt was one of them. He got up there and did it, but you could tell he was nervous. He seemed to like it and did ok. He, like a lot of the others, have a lot to learn. Fortuantely their coaches seem very patient.
The 2nd day of pads, Matt again stopped running and bent over, crying. They called me on the field right away and I got a look at him. It was hard, because I couldn't tell if it was asthma or something else. We walked over to get water, I tried to calm him down, but it wasn't working very well. I was concerned that he just really didn't want to play football and I wasn't sure what to do. We went back on the field, but stayed by a coach, still very upset. Finally they sent him over to me and we talked some more. I think we narrowed it down to he had some sore/pulled stomach muscles and he thought he was having an asthma attack, which scared him. Once I told him it was just muscles and not asthma, he went back on the field and did a good job. I was very proud of him.
We talked later that night while he was in the hot tub. He said that he was afraid of having an asthma attack adn that he wouldn't be able to play football. I asked if he was just afraid of football and didn't really want to play, and he insisted that wasn't true. We talked some more about Rick adn I being responsible for the asthma if it occurred and that all he needed to do was to play football. I also talked about it being scary and that I understood it. I told him he could call Kimmie and talk to her since she has asthma and has since she was a child. He thought that might be a good idea. He seems more at ease and ok with everything. I certainly hope so. It sucks to see you kids afraid of something that they have no control over. He is such a trooper.