Survival.
Or as I like to call it: The current season of our lives. Television shows have seasons. The weather has seasons. The Raifords also have seasons. And right now, we are in survival season. I won’t even mention the fact that graduation parties, planning, college tours, scholarship deadlines, acceptance deposits, grad events, and everything grad-related have filled our calendars for months – it’s flag football season.
And we have two players. In two different age brackets. In two different leagues. Our 17-year-old plays Varsity Flag Football at her high school. Our (almost) 12-year-old son plays for a local recreational league…and this past weekend was the first of the games for the season.
They’ve both been practicing for several weeks (and my husband is coaching our son’s team), and his team had their opening day game on Saturday (and took home a 45-12 win). Our son plays Quarterback and he plays defense, and he rocked the field with his team. He threw three touchdowns, intercepted the ball playing defense, and he pulled about a million flags (maybe I’m biased, but this kid is a rockstar on the field).
Our daughter plays her first two games this week (she plays on weeknights), and we cannot wait to see her rock the field during her last season. She has so much fun playing, and we love watching her and her friends on the field. She’s making memories she’ll take with her the rest of her life, though I know this season will be a little emotional for her, knowing it’s her last.
At the moment, we are feeling pretty fortunate to only have two kids actively playing sports – we often have at least three playing different sports at the same time, so two feels pretty easy. Golf is over, so our only golf days are purely recreational for Ava and Craig, which is so nice. Our sweet Charlotte, however, is in Yearbook, so she’s taking photos at numerous sporting events for her school, and that does mean we’re at tennis matches, basketball games, and other events so she can photograph them. Thankfully, those are right after school, so they don’t interfere with games or practices…it only adds to the chaotic color-coded events on our family calendar.
Which brings me to my point – the family calendar.
It’s full. It’s chaotic. It’s carefully color-coded and planned out, and it’s not something we are new to. Four kids and many years of overlapping sports schedules have honed our ability to plan, execute, and succeed at being everywhere, all the time, all at once. You can call it our Game Week Survival Strategy – and I can share some tips for other families who might be a little newer to the season of survival.
Have kids, they say.
Tip One: Sunday Night Gear Reset
Game week might not start on Sunday evenings, but it starts on Sunday evenings. Before we go to bed on Sunday evenings, all uniforms are washed and dried. All accessories (mouth guards, cleats, arm bands, etc.) are cleaned and put back into sports bags. Practice clothes are chosen.
Game days and practice nights are so much easier when everything is put together and organized long before the day actually arrives. We aren’t looking for mouth guards or armbands or stressing about dirty uniforms the morning of – it’s all done well in advance. If you take nothing else from this post – take this tip to heart. Trust me.
Tip Two: Sports Snacks
I don’t know how your kids feel, but if my kids don’t have a snack every seven minutes or so, they might actually die of starvation. This is why we keep snack bins fully stocked at all times, and it’s also why I have a sports snack bag that goes with us on game days.
It’s really simple – a Bogg bag filled with granola bars, protein bars, fruit snacks, napkins, and baby wipes. We also have a Yeti bag cooler that’s filled with Gatorade and bottled water – and I always keep enough for entire teams, because I know how easy it is to run out of the house and forget to grab snacks/beverages for the kids when everything is happening all at once, and I never want anyone’s kids to go without (or their parents to feel that guilt).
I refill the bag after every game and leave it in the laundry room next to the beverage fridge so we can refill the cooler with ice and beverages before the next game. They’re both right there, and it makes it impossible for us to forget to grab one or the other on our way out.
Tip Three: Family Calendar Check
This happens on Sundays – and probably like 73 more times during the week. Essentially, my husband and I sit down and go over the calendar for the week so we know who, what, when, where. He’s coaching our son’s team. Sometimes our daughter’s games are on the same nights as his practices. Her games start half an hour after his practices end.
So, we discuss whether I’m waiting on them to get home so we can both go to her game together, or if I’m going to her away games on my own and they’re meeting me there as soon as they can, etc. We make sure we all know who is going where, who is driving, who is with these kids, those kids, that kid, whatever. It’s so much easier than figuring it out last minute.
Tip Four: Easy Game Night Dinners
Listen, we love to cook an elaborate, decadent, delicious meal. But game nights/practice nights are not it. But we also care very little for fast food, so our kids prefer simple meals. We have a rotating list of quick, easy, healthy, delicious meals our entire family loves, and we use those on game/practice nights. We just check the calendar on Sunday, make sure we order everything we need for those, and have them ready to eat early, because we are not late dinner people. Everyone is healthy, happy, and relaxed, not having to figure it outat the last minute.
Do you guys want me to do a blog post one day talking about our quick, easy, healthy game night recipes? Because I’m happy to do it.
Tip Five: Senior Season Mindset Shift
All right – this is a new one for us. It’s not about logistics or to-do lists or packing or preparing so much as it is about the emotional load that comes with having a senior playing sports.
It’s different. Trust me. It’s a lot of lasts. The last first game. The last senior night. The last season. This means checking myself mentally – reminding myself to be more present (like not answering texts or emails during games and just focusing on the actual game instead), to be more patient, to take more photos and videos, and just enjoying the moment rather than thinking about the next.
Because, friends, this is it. This is the last time we’ll watch her on the football field. This is the last time we’ll experience this with her. This is it.
We are celebrating the big wins, the little wins, and the moments we have this season. So much is the same, but SO much is different – and we are here for it. We like to win – we are not participation trophy people. But we also know that these are the moments and the memories that are coming to a close in this final season, and it feels a lot more important to focus on that this year.
I hope our sports season survival checklist helps you a little – feel free to comment with your own tips. The Good Lord knows I’m always open to learning new things.
Tiffany Raiford 