He's a Fighter

Hayden's 8 year old football team scrimmaged the 9 year old A team last week. At first we all thought it was a good idea. "It will toughen them up, help them become better." And it was all fun and games until the game actually started...Hayden was horse collared, shoved in the back so many times he was screaming mad, hit so hard it stunned him, and well the pictures tell you the rest.

The white marks in the middle of the bruise are lumps. Lumps of what? Not sure, maybe bone, maybe cartilage...all I know is they are huge and they are painful!

Hayden was on defense and he was running to tackle the ball runner when *!@*BAM!**@! from the side came a full speed offensive player hitting into Hayden with the force of Hercules. Hayden went down and did not get back up. He was crying and rolling around on the ground. I, being a well trained football mother, did not walk onto the field I RAN onto the field!! The league president was the first on the scene and as I approached I heard, "You are ok, just breathe, dude just breathe." Then all the coaches gathered around and the coach from the other team came over and said, "Oh crap is that Hayden? Sorry Stef" After much tears (maybe some were from me...but mostly Hayden) and deep breaths he stood up and walked off the field. On the side line I gave him a hug and told him he was very brave. He looked up at me with those "Hayden Eyes" and said, "I am going back in there and I am going to kill that kid." Then he threw his helmet on and ran out on the field, tapped his coach on the arm and said, "I'm ready." Not sure what to do at that point I turned on the camera hoping to get some pictures of my son before he was officially killed.
He delivered some pretty hard hits to the other team on defense, but on offense they just beat on him until he grabbed his arm and asked to be taken out. He was holding his arm below the elbow crying when I walked over to him to see where he was hurt he said, "Mom, I just want to go home, I hurt everywhere on my body." My heart broke for him and I gave him a pep talk then went and sat down. The next thing I knew he was back on the field telling his coach he was ready to play. Some of the parents said they were glad it was Hayden getting hurt and not their kid because Hayden is the only kid they know that would continue to play. The league pres. said, "Never in all my years of little league football have I ever seen a Gremlin get hit that hard, ever! And then to go back and play, that kid is intense."
2 days after the game, the bruises started to appear. He complained that it hurt to touch his arm and when I asked where, he would say "everywhere". Needless to say Saturday morning we invested in forearm pads...something I thought was for show-now I see the need.
I am very proud of Hayden he was really beat up and he did not quit. Even when he thought he couldn't play any longer he put aside his pain and stepped up for his team. I envision a great future for this kid. Whether it is with sports or not, he is a fighter and no 9 year old is going to make him stop. Cry maybe but not stop!