Hockey Mom's biggest worry

(This is a stitching/needlework blog too...but just need to do a Hockey posting right now).

It seems that with any sport now a days, there is always a worry about your child getting hurt...baseball they can get hit with the ball or a pitcher can damage their pitching arm; football the child can get tackled and break something; soccer - there seems to be more reports of injuries and sometimes death due to hits on the head. Well, last night was the first night of tryouts for my older son, Robert. He is trying out for Bantam AAA (which covers birth yr of 1996 and 1995...and "triple" A is a high level, tier/ranking). This is his first year as a Bantam, so there is always some discussion of whether 1st years should tryout for the high levels. Suffice it to say...last night there were 38 skaters and 4 goalies on the ice all competing for a team that will have a max of 18 skaters and 2 goalies. Robert looked very good out there (yes, a mom is somewhat prejudice of her child).

For the first 15 minutes there are warm up skates and drills and then for the remaining hours they divide up into 2 different groups/teams and scrimmage. During the scrimmage the coach and other evaluators watch to see how the boys play - how they hussle and fight for the puck - what kind of plays the make and how they play with other kids they haven't really played with before. Robert gets in about 5 or 6 shifts in the first 1/2 hour of the scrimmage, each time he would jump over the boards of the player's bench and "fly" to the puck (first one to the puck to make the first play of the scrimmage is a good thing to do!) Well, around that 1/2 hour mark, Robert gets hit a few feet from the boards and goes down. As our "tough" kid goes, he typically gets up immediately (if you get hit and you are hurt, the first thing you should do is get up and go to the bench...if you get hit and you are not too hurt, you get up and continue play until the next shift can get out). Well, I saw Robert get hit and I saw Robert go down and I saw Robert try to get up and fall back down. My heart skipped a beat when the coaches and a few players whent over to him. They did get him up and skate him off the ice and he went into the locker room. One of the father's from our team last year is a doctor, and he was present (watching his child)...I got him and he looked at Robert. Robert was shaken up and upset and scared (so was I). I waited a few minutes to collect myself (for I had tears and was sick to my stomach as my head was playing "what if" games) and then I went into the locker room. He was a little woosy - but he knew where he was, what day it was, who all the people were standing around him asking questions...but he wasn't quite sure what happened, until later as we were getting ready to leave the rink.

The Doctor friend gave us all the things we should do - basically watch him, give him lots of fluids to drink and just a little to eat and rest. On the way home, I stopped at a gas station and got an ice pack which he put on his head and neck while we drove home...got him something to eat and some Tylenol...he showered and then went to bed (we did wake him up and checked on him during the night).

This morning he was up at 5:45 - feeling a little tired, but wanting to go back for Day 2 of tryouts. DH and I told him that was fine, supporting his decision, especially since he didn't show any symptoms of concussion - but if he got out on the ice and felt bad at anytime, that it was "ok, to sit or even remove himself from the ice."

He made it all the way through tryouts this morning as per reports from DH via phone & txt messages. So we will see what happens. We have one more day of AAA tryouts - we will find out tomorrow if he makes it or not....if he does "great"...if he doesn't that is totally ok, for AA tryouts are next week. At this point, I am just glad that he [seems] ok...we will definitely watch him the rest of today and through the rest of the weekend.

Thank you for putting up with this post...I just needed an outlet to get this out of my head and off my mind. I will have some stitching updates to post soon - as there are some finishes coming ahead!

Take care all and have a good weekend!
Remember...Live, Love, Laugh and stitch often! Lisa