7 Things I’ve Learned In My First Two Weeks As A High School Football Mom

I’ve been a high school football mama for about two and a half weeks now. Although we haven’t even played our first game yet, I’ve learned a lot, and thought I’d share it with you all.

1. If you’re not 15 minutes early, you’re late. Practice may be scheduled to start at 3pm, but if you’re not on that field, with your helmet and pads on by 2:45pm, you’re late. And coach will call you out on it!
2. They will be tired. The only time No. 1 has napped since he was a toddler, is when he had the flu last Winter. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve witnessed him fall asleep, with the lights on!
3. They will eat you out of house and home. A gallon of milk ain’t got nothing on my boy! His typical post-practice meal consists of two bowls of cereal, two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and a protein shake. Oh, and then he eats dinner…
4. They will stink. High school sweat is in a league all of it’s own! (Click HERE for my tips on cleaning equipment.)
5. They wash their own uniforms. Yes mama, you read right! I learned this at our parent meeting last week. Game uniforms do not come home, so they will take turns washing them after each game. That’s one less funky thing for them to bring into your house! #WINNING
6. It takes a village. Before school starts, they practice six days a week, almost always during the work day. Unless your child lives within walking distance or you work from home, you will definitely need to get with your fellow football mamas asap to set up a carpool. I don’t know what I’d do without my tribe!
7. Coaches still need our help. When I dropped No. 1 off for picture day, I happened to bump into one of his coaches and decided to ask him if they could use any help. His response, “Yes, please! We can always use help!”. Even the head varsity coach echoed what he said. From passing out jerseys, to serving pre-game meals, to filming games, to taking tickets, to fundraising…they still need AND WANT us, mamas! (Click HERE for 10 ways you can volunteer to help!).

While high school football is definitely a big change from youth, I’m excited (and a bit nervous, I won’t even lie!) for the season to begin.


Wishing you all a happy and healthy football season.


GO TEAM!!!

*** Click HERE to read 7 things I learned in my first season as a high school basketball mama!

7 Things I’ve Learned In My First Two Weeks As A High School Football Mom

I’ve been a high school football mama for about two and a half weeks now. Although we haven’t even played our first game yet, I’ve learned a lot, and thought I’d share it with you all.

1. If you’re not 15 minutes early, you’re late. Practice may be scheduled to start at 3pm, but if you’re not on that field, with your helmet and pads on by 2:45pm, you’re late. And coach will call you out on it!
2. They will be tired. The only time No. 1 has napped since he was a toddler, is when he had the flu last Winter. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve witnessed him fall asleep, with the lights on!
3. They will eat you out of house and home. A gallon of milk ain’t got nothing on my boy! His typical post-practice meal consists of two bowls of cereal, two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and a protein shake. Oh, and then he eats dinner…
4. They will stink. High school sweat is in a league all of it’s own! (Click HERE for my tips on cleaning equipment.)
5. They wash their own uniforms. Yes mama, you read right! I learned this at our parent meeting last week. Game uniforms do not come home, so they will take turns washing them after each game. That’s one less funky thing for them to bring into your house! #WINNING
6. It takes a village. Before school starts, they practice six days a week, almost always during the work day. Unless your child lives within walking distance or you work from home, you will definitely need to get with your fellow football mamas asap to set up a carpool. I don’t know what I’d do without my tribe!
7. Coaches still need our help. When I dropped No. 1 off for picture day, I happened to bump into one of his coaches and decided to ask him if they could use any help. His response, “Yes, please! We can always use help!”. Even the head varsity coach echoed what he said. From passing out jerseys, to serving pre-game meals, to filming games, to taking tickets, to fundraising…they still need AND WANT us, mamas! (Click HERE for 10 ways you can volunteer to help!).

While high school football is definitely a big change from youth, I’m excited (and a bit nervous, I won’t even lie!) for the season to begin.


Wishing you all a happy and healthy football season.


GO TEAM!!!

*** Click HERE to read 7 things I learned in my first season as a high school basketball mama!

Guest Post: Tough Days Bruise, But People Survive

I know the name of this blog is Confessions of a Sports Mama, BUT this post from NFL Super Bowl XXVI winning linebacker turned #sportsdad Andre Collins, spoke to my heart. Collins currently serves as Executive Director, Professional Athletes Foundation for the National Football League Players Association, where he works to ensure retirees make successful post-football transitions. When he’s not in the office, he can be seen (and heard!) cheering his children on, alongside his beautiful wife, Ericka.

What a joy, when my son Chet plays a great game! Ah, that’s my boy!! Then again, there’s probably nothing worse in all of sports than watching my son pitch a tough inning or miss a few easy layups on the basketball court. I know, without a doubt, the sports gods can be cruel. Even with practice and preparation, somehow the ‘sporting god of adversity and humility’ finds his way to the action.

As a parent, nothing pains me more than seeing my kids struggle. It hurts to watch those humbling moments that competing in sports can create. Watching those life lessons unfold right before my eyes is all too familiar because I’ve had my shot blocked, struck out and fumbled the ball many times. I know how that feels. I know how that stuck in my head. I know that embarrassment. Therefore, I know my son’s pain. I want to hug him, demand a do-over or take on some of those other kids myself.

But let me stop. What in the world is driving my need to make his experience perfect? Why should I care so much if he fails?

I tried. I failed. I lived. I know those tough days made me better. Tough days bruise, but people survive. I had to stop myself from managing every second of Chet’s sports life. Which meant I categorically needed to shut up.

I stopped giving tips and advice right before and right after games. I think about my own loving father, who didn’t come to every game like parents do today. That wasn’t a thing back then in the 70’s. When I had a bad game, I walked that mile home alone, no parents, with my friends laughing a little about other stuff. I knew I didn’t play great but I worked those feelings out in my head without my father’s consoling. I survived and somewhere in that process I developed a resiliency and spirit to get better, to do better and to try again.

I have knowledge about competing and preparation. I’ll find appropriate times to share good advice with him.

For now, I give him his space to process. I realize he needs the space to breathe and mourn a poor performance and to feel good about himself when he plays well. He must develop his own coping skills. He’s a boy becoming a man through the competition of sport.


I’m still learning new things about fatherhood and glad I could realize this is my son’s chance to grow.

Action Creates Opportunity. Let your ability to pull back, listen and be still create an opportunity for your kids to experience life and become the people they were meant to be.

You don’t have to know Collins personally to understand the love that he has for his family. The love that he has for sports. The joy that watching his children play brings him.

But if you do, as I do, consider yourself lucky. In a world full of amazing Sports Mamas, he is truly one amazing #sportsdad!

15 Things Sports Moms Say

Us Sports Mamas get each other. So much so, that it can at times sound like we’re speaking in a foreign language.


Here are 15 things that we’re known to say, both on and off the field:

1. Did I just feel a rain drop? YES!
2. You better hit somebody!
3. I can’t. My kid has practice.
4. Get your cup off of the table!
5. Are there any bones sticking out? Good. Go play!
6. $20 to watch my own kid play? Seriously?
7. Are you blind, ref?
8. Put that brownie down. You have weigh-in tomorrow!
9. Omg. What is that horrible smell?
10. Score a goal and I’ll give you a dollar!
11. Where are the tops to these 128 water bottles?
12. It’s 9pm. Time for dinner!
13. Sorry my car smells so bad. My kid had practice last night.
14. Where’s my cowbell?
15. THAT’S MY BABY!!!

Let’s keep the fun going. Leave something you’re known to say in the comment section below!



*** Click HERE to read Part II and HERE to join myself and hundreds of other Sports Mamas in our private, Facebook support group!

10 Signs You’re Probably a Soccer Mom

I love soccer season. I really do. In fact, soccer was the very beginning of my “Sports Mama Career”. I’ve been a soccer mom for almost 10 years now (oh, that makes me feel old!).


Here are ten telltale signs that you’re probably one too…

1. You have multiple weather apps on your cellphone. And you check them several times a day. Maybe, just maybe that 95% chance of thunderstorms on game day will change if I check it one more time!
2. You have a portable chair in the trunk of your car. It reclines, has a cup holder, and a canopy. And your entire family knows not to touch it!
3. Whenever you open your trunk to load groceries there’s a 99.9% chance that a soccer ball (or two, or three!) will come rolling out. Hand eye coordination Mama, hand eye coordination!
4. There are water bottles every where you look; the backseat of your car, in your kid’s room, heck, even in your purse. Yet, you still can’t manage to walk through Target without picking up a new one. 
5. You drive your kid home from practice will all the windows down. Two words: shin guards! And if you’re the mom of a goalie, bless your sweet heart. Goalie gloves may be about the only things that smell worse. GAG!
6. You spend waaay too much time on Pinterest. How else would you find all those cute soccer mom shirts and come up with all those fun, post-game snack ideas?
7. Nutmeg is no longer the name of a spice in your household.
8. You always know which store has oranges on sale. And you can slice 10 of them in the blink of an eye.
9. You buy the largest bottles of sunscreen and bug spray you can find. And you have a back up stash, just in case. Sunburn and those pesky bugs don’t stand a chance!
10. You have no free Saturdays the entire season. Between commuting to and from the games, arriving early at the games for warm-ups, and the actual games themselves, you basically live at the field. And you absolutely LOVE it!

Good luck this season, Mamas!

*** Click HERE to read my Soccer Mama Survival Tips and HERE to see what I carry in my Sports Mama Bag.

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