The Youth Sports Roller Coaster: Laugh, Cry, Repeat

Being a parent of boys who play travel sports is like riding the world’s most unpredictable roller coaster. One minute you’re laughing, cheering, and having the time of your life. The next, your stomach drops. Before you know it, you’re throwing up all over everyone around you… and wondering if you’re ever be allowed back in line.

When your son gets cut from a team he’s poured two years into, your heart breaks in a way that’s hard to explain. As a parent, you wish you could take away the hurt or fix it, but you can’t. All you can do is hold him, love him, remind him who he is, and help him work through the disappointment.

If there’s one thing I know about CJ, it’s that he has grit. He has this determination to prove that his size doesn’t define him and that he belongs. I don’t know if baseball will work out exactly the way he dreams it will, but I do know this: learning how to get back up after failure, to keep showing up, and to keep believing in yourself is a gift that will last far longer than any roster spot ever could.

There will be wins, and there will be losses.

Parenting is fucking hard and today feels like a loss. 

Tomorrow, we’ll dust ourselves off, get our heads back in the game, and go chase the next win.