….An Emotional Sports Parent

Yesterday, my girls raced in the ACT schools cross country championships. In my last post I wrote about how we were all  feeling excited and anxious about the day…..but I could never have predicted what was going to happen…..

On that post, a lovely Mom from Fly Like A Girl, who I have connected with through blogging, left a thoughtful comment. She said that there was a difference between a crazy sports parent and an emotional one. Well, today, I’m an emotional one….

The girls, excited before the races

The day started with nervous anticipation. My 7 year old daughter, Muscles, took to the starting line of her race. The course was blanketed in a think layer of fog, which gave an eerie atmosphere to the race. I stood at the apex of the first corner to watch the girls disappear into the fog…with my little girl firmly in the lead as they ran out of site.

Muscles in the lead........

I rushed down to the finishing straight full of excitement to watch the final part of the race. As I stood with my family, we strained our necks to get a glimpse of the girls and we couldn’t see Muscles. . As the girls turned into the finishing straight there was still no sign of my little girl.

My heart sank because for weeks, I had been reassuring her about the race and telling her that she would be fine….I knew how much this race meant to her. I thought that she must have run too hard at the start and was too exhausted to maintain the pace. I new that she would be upset.

We waited at the line, still searching for a glimpse of my girl…the last stragglers finished and still there was no sign of her.

Now my heart was pounding! What had happened???

I went straight to the marshalling tent to find one of our lovely teachers was already making enquiries. Finally (at least it felt like forever, but was probably just a minute), a call came in from one of the course marshals requesting first aid for a injured girl.

So, off I went…running that cross country course myself to find my daughter.

It turned out that she had fallen and badly injured her ankle. I carried her back…while she cried and shook from the pain and the disappointment, and the relief from seeing me.  It also turned out that there was no first aid at the course….Luckily, our school had brought a first aid kit so at least we had some ice and bandages to help ease the swelling.

Little Buster was very concerned for his big sister...

Today we are off to see the sports doctors to see what the damage is. Her ankle is very swollen and bruised! She is devastated that she can’t do her gymnastics training with her major competitions coming up. Last night the poor little thing cried herself to sleep…

….Back at the cross country carnival my oldest daughter, Flash (9) ran 4^th in her race….to be completely honest, I don't think her heart was really in it.

So today I am an emotional sports parent. I haven’t quite got my thoughts straight yet. I know that injuries are a part of sport…I know that she'll probably be fine in a few weeks.....but it is so hard to see my child go though that...It was a tough day at the office for this mum.

linking up with Diary of a SAHM for #IBOT (I blog on Tuesdays)