Youth Sports Weekend: Courage

Part 1: ACT Little Athletics Championships

Well, they say there are two things in life for certain…death and taxes. It also appears that the other certainty is Flash getting sick the day before the most important sporting weekend of the year!

This Saturday was the day of the ACT Little Athletic Championships. Flash has waited for this day for the past 4 years of doing little athletics as this was the year she has FINALLY been old enough to participate. The athletics season has also been a very ‘sparse’ one because of the awful weather with two major carnivals cancelled. Flash has been itching to get onto that AIS track!

When Flash woke on Saturday morning, her face was so red and swollen, she looked distorted. I have honestly never seen her looking like that! She was running a temperature and had a sore throat. She needed to blow her nose 324 times and had an awful cough. I told her she could stay home if she wanted….However after all the training (and practicing putting on and off her spikes) she was determined to go. She was in tears at the prospect of missing the carnival!

It was a very difficult day for both Flash and for me. It was so hard for Flash because she normally does so well at athletics but she struggled in her events. It was hard also for me to watch her. Honestly, I just wanted to pick her up and take her home. But I was so proud of the effort she was putting in! She managed a 4^th place in the 100m final and the 400m final.

But guess which event she still shone at?? The long jump! Flash managed to lead the competition until the very last of the 6 jumps when she was just out jumped! She was so happy to win a silver medal and stand on the winners podium!

Lauren Boden, an ACT athlete who as recently been selected to compete for Australia at the London Olympic games presented her with her medal and she was so happy!

I guess with sport you have to take the good days with the bad. Even the elite athletes must get sick occasionally too…and still compete. My daughter showed a great deal of guts and determination to compete on Saturday….she even asked me to stop telling people she was sick…she didn’t want anyone to know or use it for an excuse….and if you want to know what the best part of the day was…

…..it was this….

One of my aims for this little SportyMummy blog, is to develop a Youth Sports community where parents can support, encourage and motivate each other to support their children’s participation in youth sports. If your children have participated in a youth sport or an active pursuit this week-end, you can link up your post with the linky, found at the end of this post,  and share the fun!