Conflict

[Bonebuster]

My thirteen yr old son is a veteran bowhunter. His first bowhunts included a diaper bag over my shoulder. He has followed along and learned to love the hunt.

He is going into eight grade, and the local coach
of the football team, and some of his buddies want him on the team. Because of the schedule of practices and games, it will leave him almost NO time to bowhunt. If you ask me, the schedule is going to be way to demanding for junior high football. (Three or four practices after school, and saturday morning, and evening?... plus games?)

He WANTS to play football, but he can`t begin to
cope with losing 90% of his hunting time. I have told him he has my support either way, but he has a look on his face as if someone has died. It has to be his decision.

The coach sees a running back, and I see a bowhunter in agony.  

After work/school "bonus" hunts will be gone, and
our all day saturday excursions eliminated?

Too much is expected as far as I`m concerned, but what do I know.

I was just wondering if any of you have run into this type of conflict.

I have a hunch that me and his younger brother will have to make room for him in the pick up, because I don`t think he is going to give up hunting.

[Ian johnson]

that was one of the reason I did not play football this year in highschool

[BobW]

I played organized basketball from the age of 5 through college.  Through that time, I hunted maybe 1-3 times a year at best.  The life experiences gained far outweigh the lost hunting time.

[tukudu]

Bonebuster,
    I have trained two of them and they are both great bowhunters. I would encourage him to play football, as BobW said the experience, friends etc. far outweigh the lost in hunting time. You guys will catch up with each other farther down the road. He has the fundamentals so you won't loose him, trust me. tom

[wingnut]

He will be able to hunt the rest of his life.  Organized sports in school last a very short time.  Encourage him to play, most will play though highschool and that's as far as they will ever go.  

Bowhunting can wait a little while.

Mike

[2-BIG]

I would definitely encourage the football and hunt on weekends when possible. I played football and still got in quite a bit of hunting but my Junior year I decided I needed to work a job rather than play football and I regreted that decision from the moment I saw the look on my coaches face when I turned in my gear.

[fatman]

Agreed, encourage him to play...and make the commitment to give up some of YOUR hunting time to go to his games and support him in any way you can.  I'm coming out the back end of raising three boys (one still in high school) and it is very rewarding.

Kevin

[vermonster13]

Have him follow his heart. There are many memories that can be made in both pursuits and once he gets to college he may have to give up hunting for another four or more years.

[horatio1226]

If he doesn't play football he might regret it the rest of his life. Can't go back to the past. He'll have the rest of his life to hunt. And there are no cheerleaders for hunting!

[Paul Mattson]

My 13 yr old decided to play football.

[adeeden]

One of mine has been in a similar position for the last 4 years. Not football but traveling baseball it runs from Febuary until early November! 3-4 pratices a week (in the evening) games most every weekends (tournaments) and the ocasional game through the week. He loves the game and is very good at it, he also loves the woods. It has limited his time in the woods to just 4 or 5 times a year. It has also really cut back on my woods time as well. I fully support his decision to play, he has met people from all over th U.S. and several other countries as well playing ball. He has goten alot of exposure as well which I hope will help with college scholarships!

To make a long story short, I let him make the decision and I decided I would support it either way. While I may find myself in a treestand while he is practicing I do make nearly all the games!

He will have the rest of his life to hunt and fish when he gets older, for now I am content with him being a kid and haveing fun.

[Eric Krewson]

I took a different tact on my son playing sports. I was in my mid thirties when my son wanted to play various sports as a teenager. I worked with a bunch of guys who were serious athletes in high school and were suffering the consequences of past injuries. Knee and back injuries topped the list, several have since had knee replacements. I discouraged him from contact sports and encouraged him to be a scholar. He just started his third Internet company so I think I pointed him in the right direction.

Never could get him interested in shooting a bow.

[Molson]

Yes, we should never encourage our kids to waste their youth on second-rate activities like hunting and fishing. What would become of them?

[Shaun]

The human brain is not finished growing until age 15. The last part of the brain to develop is the portion that is used for judgment. He is unlikely at a stage to be making serious life decisions yet.

Strength training especially with weights in a bad idea before bone structure is completely grown.

8th grade football? I would tell him no. Let him run in track or play a non contact sport but unless he is strongly called to it don't let him play football at this age. He will be an old man at 40 and worse if he is pressured into inappropriate training or even steroid abuse.

[BD]

Went through this dilemma in high school myself and ended up qutting football at the beginning of my junior year and I regret it. He can bowhunt for the rest of his life, but the window to play high school sports is very short.

[John Scifres]

I'm not a fan of the way sports are practiced on kids these days.  I understand that is how athletes have progressed to the point they are today; but at what cost?  

My 10 year old son played football last year.  As a 4th grader, the abominable nature of the coaches and the parents really turned him off.  He was actually chastised by the coach for missing a practice to attend an important Cub Scout function.  I know all coaches and programs aren't like this but 5-6 days a week for football is too much.

Life is about balance.  I'd let him decide but it would be difficult for me to not influnce him to keep his life balanced.  It's difficult to do that with sports these days.

[GingivitisKahn]

I'm with some of the later posts.  Football is just a game but hunting is real life.

[upatree]

If he wants to play sports, let him.  It was a great experience for me to play highschool and college athletics.  As soon as my athletic career was over, I was hunting HARD as if to make up for lost time.  I never lost the passion for the outdoors and I am sure he won't either.

[hogdancer]

a lot of my friends played high school sports, I did not, I hunted and fished later took up martial arts but never gave up hunting and fishing, now years later they can tell you all about football, who's in the superbowl and stuff like that. I don't have a clue about football, but ask me when and were the fish are biting and when the deer are moving and I can tell you. Those early years spent in the woods with my father really paid off. Yes he has the rest of his life to hunt and fish, but do you ?

[smokin joe]

I tend to agree with BD. Hunting is a life-long activity, The opportunity to enjoy playing sports in school does not last very long. I would let him give football a try and see if he likes it and if he has some success at it.
On the other hand, I just went through knee replacement surgery caused by a lifetime of sports. I will miss this year's bow season while I am working to get my strength back.
It is a complex issue, and there is no perfect decision.
Just my opinion.