I have been a sports fan most of my life. I’m not sure where this came from, because when I was growing up hardly anyone else in my family cared anything about sports. My mother used to say to me, “You are just foolish about that ole ball.” She never distinguished which kind of ball she meant because I loved them all.
I only played organized sports for a couple of years early on, mainly because as soon as I was big enough to work, I had an organized job after school. I have managed to squeeze in playing a good bit of tennis, racquetball and pickleball. I have also always enjoyed watching sports. At a young age I picked out my favorite teams and players. Early on, I loved Joe Namath, Bart Starr, Hank Aaron, Willie Mayes, Muhammad Ali and Oscar Robertson, just to name a few.
In more recent years, I’ve had several favorites as well, but my most favorite athlete of them all is a young man named Drew. He also happens to be my favorite grandson. Good thing he’s my only grandchild! Many of you readers of my columns have watched him through the years as he has grown up. He has played several sports, both in the backyard as well as on organized teams, for quite some time now. He has played on rec league teams and school-sponsored teams from preschool all the way through high school. He has played T-ball, baseball, basketball, soccer and most recently, football.
Drew’s favorite sport, and without doubt his best, is soccer. I knew very little about soccer, because I had not even watched it much until he started playing. When he first began, he wasn’t much bigger than the ball! He and all his teammates would huddle around the ball, so much so they couldn’t kick it any distance without hitting one another with the ball. They ran together like a pack. They rarely scored, but they had fun and Drew loved it. Eventually, they learned to spread out on the field, play their own position and even score goals.
Later on, Drew made his high school soccer team and became a starter. He loved it so much that he even played in the off season on a travel team. Then this year, his senior year, his high school football team only had one place kicker. Do you know that soccer players make good football kickers? His soccer coach asked him to try out for the football team as a kicker and he made the team. His first year on a high school football team is his last year in high school.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, as he was running down the field in soccer practice, something popped in his right leg and he went down. Doctors confirmed what we feared. His ACL was completely torn and he will need surgery to repair it. He will miss the rest of the football season, travel team soccer and probably the upcoming school soccer season as well. Bummer!
My heart breaks for my little buddy, who is now taller than me. Even on crutches, he is no doubt faster than his old granddad! I am sad for him, but at the same time I am very proud of him and all that he has accomplished. Whether he is on the field playing, or standing on the sideline on crutches, he is still my favorite player out there. He has matured into quite a young man and we can’t wait to see what else he will accomplish in his life.
Bill King can be reached at bkpreach@yahoo.com.
