Working out and eating well. This is essential for an athlete of any age. I am not an athlete, never was, but my son now has me on an eating healthy plan and now working out with him! Yikes! It is killing me, but I would not trade it for the world. What parent gets to spend all this time with their soon to be 18 year old? He calls me from work to remind me to meet him at the gym. I happily say, yep, meet you there, on the inside I am like oh no how am I going to get through this brutal work out. But today will be my 5th time working out in about 2 years and I know I will get stronger and stronger. We are bonding and I am able to participate with him while he trains for the upcoming season. Not that we do not already have an incredible relationship, I am a lucky mom. I am sure most Hockey Moms are just as lucky as I am and have a great relationship with their hockey player. We owe this to the great game of hockey. All the time together over the years, driving to practice, driving to games and driving or flying to tournaments. You had to interact with each other on the all the long drives. It made for a great relationship.
I have always wanted to somehow physically participate with my kid in his training and be a part of what he loves. When my son was 6 years old and playing hockey for over a year, I thought how cool would it be if I learned to ice skate and surprised him by skating with him. So, I decided I wanted to be able to skate and secretly set up skating lessons with one of his coaches. OK, I lasted 15 minutes look at the coach and said, ummm NO! I like my body parts where they are and my feet hurt really badly. From that day forward, I had even more respect for my kid and all players. How do they skate like they do, it amazes me. I have pictures of my son at a 90 degree angle skating away. I would have broken every bone in my body. However, it is a big difference when a 5 year old falls to the ground, another for mom, we have further to fall.
Fast forward to today, working out with my son is a lot of fun. He gets on my case a lot, but then tells me how proud he is of me for getting through the brutal work out. It is called 9Rounds and you have 3 minutes of a different exercise for each of the 9rounds. The other day I was so proud of my kid, he conquered all 9Rounds with a 35lb weight vest on. Ok, show off, I could not even walk up the driveway with a 35lb vest on, let alone finish 9Rounds of brutal exercises. The determination and work ethic is astonishing. The love players have for the game drives them, pushes them to be better players. Trust me, I know that my son is not unique, but to watch him and be a part of his training is priceless. Even though I jokingly complain the whole time I am at the gym, I would not trade it for anything. One of the many things hockey teaches young men is that things do not come easy. It may look easy from the outside, but our players give up a lot of their lives to play the game they love. They move away, postpone college, and make many other sacrifices. It is not easy, but they just make it look easy.
I have a chalkboard wall in my kitchen and the countdown is on, I am crying just looking at it. It reads….40 more days until he reports to his team. OMG, only 40 more days and he is leaving for the season. This year he is moving pretty far away and I will not be able to see him much. I am doing all I can to participate in his training and be a part of his everyday life. Even if I do not want to eat that healthy meal or get my workout clothes on. He drives me to be a better person and take better care of myself. You know determination and hard work is also a strong part of a Hockey Moms job. We are determined to give all we can to our children to help them be successful and the hard work was giving them the wings at a young age to follow a dream. It was extremely hard to leave my son with a stranger at just 15 years old.
Junior Hockey Moms (especially) are parents who will drop their kids off at college and do the old tuck and roll. While other parents are crying and sending their baby off to college, we are like “ciao see you in December, better yet, can you drive yourself to college I am busy this weekend!” Because our boys are already independent amazing young men, who left home at 15 or 16 years old to play hockey. How many moms get to work out with their teenager! This mom! I would do it all over again for the relationship I have with my child, my player.
