My grand daughter Mercedes, a Petal Panther 7th grade football team member is set for their first game this Monday at the Middle School Football Field. She toughed out spring practices and made it through Fall Practices. She endured all the smack talk that was dealt her by girls, boys, parents, a few team mates as she knew she would just because she is a girl, she set her goal and has realized it. The last two weeks have been the worst with 3 of her team mates calling her ugly profane names, with a few 8th grade girls pushing her as she went down the hall and sticking her in the back with their sharpened pencils. We watched painfully as she became discouraged. She even thought of quitting just to give them what they wanted. The turning point came for her when she went to her locker room to suit up for practice only to find that someone had stolen her new Nike cleats. We talked, her Momma talked to her as well as some truly special friends and we all told her the same thing....we didnt raise any quitters. We told her she had done all the hard work and now was time to reap those benefits, we told her to never let anyone steal her love of the game or her accomplishments, I gave her some verses that God spoke to situations such as these in our life. So new cleats, new practice pants and getting her game jersey Friday and we are almost at that first game day. So, honestly from a grandmothers heart let me say,, why let her, a girl, play a boys sport? Because she loves the game and wanted to try it, because she will learn life lessons about adversity, teamwork, perseverance and good old fashioned hard work. She is not the best player they have but she is definitely not the worst and she has earned the right to wear that jersey proudly and be a Petal Panther Football player. I really dont care if she ever plays but what I care about is that she is proud of who and what she is and achieved. Am I afraid shell get hurt, you bet! Do I like that a few people out of fear and ignorance can cause her pain and disappointment, no I dont , but in the history of this world so many times it was the fear and ignorance of people that hurt people while also motivating them to go on. Look at our Saviour and what He endured out of ignorance and fear. This has definitely been a learning experience for us all. I do want to thank her coaches for cutting her no slack and bringing the most out of her thus teaching her so much. I want to especially thank Coach Charles Tweedy who is also her Youth Director at church who has been a constant source of encouragement to Mercedes, more than I think he realizes, for helping her believe in herself and for being a great Christian role model to young people. So here we are almost at that first game and we here in the Team Mercedes camp want to tell her that we are so proud of your accomplishment in the face of adversity, we are so proud of your strength and courage. We are so proud of the times you stopped to help a struggling fellow player who thought he couldnt go another step and encouraged him to get up and keep going. You never left one behind even when you ran alone sometimes. We are so proud of you Mercedes and the young lady God is growing you to be and we are so thankful God shared you with us. Go Mercedes, Go 7th grade Petal Panthers.
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 04:32:31 +0000
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