Flag Football

Back in April, my brothers started talking about putting the boys in flag football together, and coaching the team. We thought this sounded like a lot of fun, but weren't sure if we could make it happen. We went back and forth over it for a long time. I thought I missed registration and kind of figured "oh well", but my sister-in-law let us know there was still a date left we could do late registration.

It meant a huge time commitment from us, practice two times a week and weekly Saturday games down in Boise. The cost of participating was pretty steep (especially for two boys, not just one), not to mention the additional cost of gas from driving 3 times to Boise a week (over 40 miles round trip each trip). And the season went into October which meant that I would most likely have a baby some time in the middle of it. It was a big decision, Marc really liked the idea of coaching the boys with my brothers, doing something with the cousins so we didn't feel like we were so left out of things, and we knew it would be a good opportunity for the kids. As I re-read my posts I'd written about the last time they did flag football, and soccer, I relived the frustration I'd had with the coaches and that it wasn't the experience that I thought the kids deserved. That kind of summed it up for me and we signed the boys up for Optimist Flag Football in Boise with their cousins.

Practices started on August 6th. There are 13 kids on the team, including all 4 Galloway cousins. They are 2nd and 3rd graders, so the kids look pretty small compared to some of the other boys. Our boys have a little bit more experience with blocking than some of the other kids who have never played before, but they can't really throw or catch the ball very well. The men do a great job of coaching the kids. They have them broken up into smaller groups and work on different skills before switching. The kids don't have time to get bored or mess around. And they always end with a game at the end of practice. We're excited for the season and think it will be a great opportunity for them to learn lots of new skills, enjoy their teammates, and have fun.