I Thought Sundays Were For Sleeping In?

I sacrificed one of my extremely rare sleep ins this morning to take the boys to the first session of Auskick for the year. This is a program down here in Australia to teach the fundamentals of Australian Rules football to 5-8 year olds. I guess in a way it would be akin to Little League over in the States? Anyhow, up I got.

This is the second year we've done the program. Last year it was just Boofah having a go, but this year Master J has become very interested in football games on TV and decided he would like to join in.

The thing with organised sports for J is that its a bit of a 'hit or miss' affair. Because he goes to school several suburbs over and catches a taxi to and from (government funded because of his disability and the fact that placements like the one he has in his special ed class are so limited it usually means kids like J have to travel), we're usually unable to enrol him in anything extracurricula - sports, music, kids karate etc - because he cannot miss his taxi home after school. It also makes it difficult for Boofah and Miss Moo, indirectly, because someone always has to be at home to wait for the taxi after school, so that virtually rules out after-school sports for them as well. Daddy has a varied roster so he is sometimes there and sometimes not, but the nature of his work is such that he often does unplanned overtime and the reliability that he'll be home in time is just not there. We tried enrolling Boofah in after-school basketball once and it involved meeting him at his classroom, walking him across campus to the gym (he was just five at the time), getting him settled there, then racing home to be there for Master J, then racing back so as not to miss too much of Boofah's lesson. I was forever fretting about leaving Boofah for the 20 or so mins it would take me to do the round trip home to get J. The coach understood and kept an eye on him, but it wasn't ideal.

However when Auskick rolled around last year, it was something we could finally get involved with, as not only was it on a Sunday, but it was at the younger kids' school oval, which was literally down the street, a five minute walk. Boofah had a great time last year, but Master J wasn't interested. This year he desperately wanted to have a go alongside his brother, and since he so rarely gets to participate in anything like it, we were excited that he finally could.

He did wonderfully :) There's always concern with anything new that his disability will mar his understanding of the instructions or purpose of the game. Apart from the fact that he is totally unco-ordinated (which is absolutely irrelevant in this setting, LOL) , he did remarkably well. There were several occasions that I needed to step in and form his hands into the positions that they needed to go in for the move/kick/catch but I was so pleased he seemed to be enjoying himself. I'd previously telephoned the program co-ordinator to give them a heads up about Master J's disability, something I always do out of courtesy in situations like this, and they were lovely. Boofah was wonderful too - at nearly-7 he is 18mo younger than his brother but took on a 'big brother' role, holding his hand, making sure he understood the instructions, staying by his side. None of the children are aware of the specifics of Master J's disability (when the time is right, we will, of course, hold nothing back) but I was so proud of both my boys today.

Miss Moo, though eligible to join in this year now that she is five, had already decided she didn't want to, so while this was all going on, she happily played on the (nearby) school playground and occasionally wandered over to where we were on the oval to chat.

And so, even though it was an early start (for a Sunday anyway :P ), and even though next week I won't get a Mother's Day sleep in, it was a lovely morning.

Cheers,
Lizzie