I Am A New Follower Of The Herd

I am very, very excited to confirm that I am officially the mother of an upcoming Women's College Basketball player.  My daughter learned that she will be receiving a scholarship to play for "The Herd" next fall.  More than anything, she is learning that anything is possible with hard work and determination.  We don't always get what we want in life but God is gracious to allow us to have all that we need and a lot of what we want and for that I am grateful. 

This hasn't been an easy road to say the least.  Playing on a college sports team is an amazing opportunity and achievement......whether it is with a small college or large university.  For someone who has overcome an injury as well as other hurdles it means even more. 

As a mother, we want to see our children happy.  We want them to have success in areas of their interests.  We want them to have goals and work hard to achieve them.  We realize that while they are growing up our kids’ dreams change almost as often as their clothes but we go along with it and smile and say, "Okay, honey that will be GREAT."  However, once they begin to voice the same goal, or dream, or hope on a regular basis we (as parents) do everything possible to ensure they have the resources available to them and instruction to help them with the skills they need to obtain their goal.  We understand their journey won't be easy and that they may stumble and fall; but we have to teach them that when they fall they have to stand back up, dust their "britches" off and keep on keeping on.  We cry when they hurt, we have pride when they succeed, and we continue to support them in good times and bad.  As moms, that is just what we do, right?

For me, I have truly understood my daughters love for basketball.  I, too, shared that love for the game.  I played myself and enjoyed a pretty successful career,  and my husband coached basketball so I feel that we had a pretty good understanding as to the skills she would need and have tried to provide her with the instruction.  She has worked really hard to learn the game and develop the skills and her ability has been promising. 

She was well on course to have a fantastic high school career……….all her hard work was paying off………until 7 games into her junior year.  She came down wrong on her knee and that was that.  I heard her scream out but still thought she would be fine.  She came out and wouldn’t reenter the game.  Afterwards a sports trainer and her uncle (a physical therapist) evaluated her and agreed that it appeared to be the unhappy triad tear (ACL, MCL, and Meniscus) and it was confirmed the following day by MRI.  She had also fractured the bone.  Surgery followed a week later and then she endured 8 long months of rehab.  She played volleyball and basketball this past year but has since entered physical therapy again due to having such a significant difference in muscle mass between her quads. 

In spite of the setbacks, heartbreaks, and disappointments, she still wants to play basketball.  Thankfully, the coach at the college she is attending feels that she has what it takes to play for his team.  There is nothing better than having a dream realized……….unless it is your child’s dream that is coming true.  I know her ability, I know her strengths, I know her knowledge, I know how hard she has worked, I know how bad she wanted this………………..and I am grateful that this coach values these qualities that I know she has.  Now it is up to her to continue to work hard and prove to him that she was indeed the right person for his team.

So, even though I typically don’t follow the crowd I am proud to say that I WILL BE A FOLLOWER OF THE HERD!!!!!!!!!!!