My son is in 7th grade, starting his 3rd year of football. It has been an adjustment going from 2x week practices in youth football to everyday, plus the locker room, buses, etc. He’s also had to learn to grow mentally and “be on his own.” In youth league he was a know quantity after his first regular season. All the coaches knew him. Now it’s a blank slate. He’s on the small side (~85 lbs) but he’s fearless and tough. He loves playing OLB, which is a natural fit for him. But with his size they stuck him at CB day one. He was willing to learn the position, but wanted a shot at LB. So it’s time to grow up and talk to your coaches. Helping him learn to talk to the coaches and how to talk to them (no whining, asking for their advice on how to get where he wants) has been a small process. He also has had to learn to pace himself. He’s an active kid. He’s been working out daily over the summer, and telling him he has to cut that back to 1-2x week has been a battle. Between that and going out after school to play with his friends, he exhausted himself the first week of school. He missed a practice that caused him to be behind that resulted in little playing time the first game. It’s been hard as a parent to let him make these decisions and watch the fallout. But a couple of weeks in he’s learned a lot.
So he talked to his coaches, got some suggestions and has been working on things. At his size shedding blocks is a big hurdle as he’s giving up usually 30-40 lbs to most players (way more to OL). We had a B-team game Monday, and he played both ways almost whole game (he’s the back-up RB). He came home last night to tell me he was named starting ROLB for Thursday A-team game. Proud Dad moment.
Now I just wish he’d hit puberty. I started between my 7-8 grade years so hopefully he’s on that track. He’s a “normal” age for his grade, but a lot of people around here hold their kids back a year. So he’s playing with many kids who are a year or more older and would have been in 8th grade in my day. He told me yesterday a classmate had a mustache and that is was “pretty awesome.”
If he doesn’t grow I worry about 8th grade at ~90lbs (or playing on the 7th/8th grade rugby team come spring).