ANYONE catch the ESPY awards last week? I did. It was my first time watching the sports based award show. My husband forced me to watch by claiming it was a new tradition for him and the baby. I have to say, I was truly bored. Then they gave an award to a young man in a wheelchair, Eric LeGrand, a football player who is recovering from a spinal cord injury. He was paralyzed from the neck down in 2010 when he broke two vertebrae in a college football game.

 

He gave a moving speech about how he will walk again. His faith and spirit were so moving.

His mother was in the crowd holding back tears. One line in his speech stood out to me, “I will never give up.” I looked over at my husband and he had tears in his eyes. I guess fatherhood has softened him.

 

Also this week I saw a video of parents fist fighting violently at a little league game. I thought to myself shame on them. What type of lessons are these parents teaching their children? From what I understand, one parent was taunting another parent and by the time it was over there were at least 15 people involved in the fight. Disgraceful.

 

I have already started planning what activities I want my baby, Caesar, to be involved in. I know he is only 5 months, but I have started a game plan. I want my child to speak Spanish, play a musical instrument, and be involved in a sport. I just don’t know what instrument or which sport.

 

After watching the ESPY awards, I think I have ruled out football. Don’t get me wrong, I love football and the team building aspect of it. What I don’t like is how scary it is. When I was a sports intern in Oklahoma City, I got to be on the field for a lot of high school football games. I was shocked about how hard the hits were on the field. My job as an intern was to watch the photographer’s back. I would pull him out of the way if the players were close to running into him. This was a hard job. I had to watch his back and mine. Sometimes when the player’s helmets crashed into one another it sounded like bones cracking.

 

My husband said baseball sounded like a good option. Then after watching the video and hearing commentary about how little league parents can be very aggressive, I have doubts about baseball now. I went through the entire list of sports and I could find fault in all of them. Ping pong would be the safest choice I thought at one point. Then I started thinking, well if he gets really good he would have to go to China for the best tournaments. So I crossed ping pong off the list. Too much overseas flying.

 

Then I saw this commercial for a drink where the mom was trying to protect her child and do everything for him. It was hilarious to watch the mom trying to protect her son from getting hit during a game of dodgeball. I realized I was turning into that crazy mom and my child can not even sit up yet. There are some decisions I can help him make and there are going to be others that I can not. I do know that whatever path we go down, I rather be the mom applauding my son for having a great spirit than fist fighting other moms with my child watching. For all parents who are involved with sports and their children, I applaud you. For those who take it too far, please take a moment and remember sports are supposed to be a positive experience for you and your child but more so for your child.

 

2012, MaLu Bradford Beyonce, All Rights Reserved.

You may reach MaLu Bradford Beyonce at malubeyonce@gmail.com