Flag Football

For the second day in a row we attended grandson activities.  Middle grandson is playing flag football.  It is fun to watch the coaches work with the children which includes a very talented young girl.  She grabs more than her fair share of flags.  Anyway it is surely fun to watch as she is not intimidated at all by the male dominated teams.  Another 4 or 5 year old girl outside the field was tossing a softball with her mom.  Lots of folks would thing this is a women's movement equal opportunity success.  For me it was just a throwback Sunday.

Our gym was wider than this.

As a girl growing up in a farming community in the 1940's & 50's girls did pretty much anything.  My older sisters would drag race and win pretty often.  We three older sisters all attended the country school in the community where we lived.  Due to the age spread only the older two attended the school at the same time. There was a Quonset hut style gym that was built during the 30's or 40's.  It was wide enough to have a full size basketball court with two sides having 3 rows of about 3 foot deep bleachers.  A jukebox was set in the concession area.  The concession area provided space for roller skates.  It was a real multipurpose building with a stage, dressing rooms and an attic area at one end.

There was a ball field in one corner of the school yard.  The outfield was next to a corn patch sort of like in the movie, Field of Dreams.  In the 50's when I attended the school the student population was really small. I played football, softball and "hard" ball.  Annie Over was a favorite pass time until the Quonset hut type gym burned one summer.  I relished being able to throw that ball all the way over the building every now and then.  But I did not have the strength or the technique of a couple of the guys and a couple of my girlfriends.

What fun to yell "Annie" and hear the "Over" reply.  I can still hear the sound of the ball hitting the metal roof of the gum and rolling across.  Then to wait in anticipation for the sound of the other team kids running as fast as legs would move to tag as many as possible if the ball had been caught.  Red Rover, jumping ropes, swinging, see-sawing, tag and playing on the 'monkey bars' added to all the fun.  Of course we were allowed to make play houses and bring dolls from home so it was not all tomboy play.

It was a joy to sit on an aluminum team bench today.  The sun was beaming in a cloudless sky.  A stiff wind kept us comfortable as well as hanging onto our hats.  We watched Middle grandson grab the flag of the runner just short of a touchdown.  Next play he intercepted the ball and ran it all the way back for a touchdown.  Love watching him so excited and celebrating with team members.  We felt sad for the other team's quarterback whose pass had been intercepted.  The other team's couch had to take a time out to comfort the quarterback who was in tears.  There is crying in flag football and it was not the girl.

I leave you knowing that kids are still playing ball, skinning knees, crying in disappointment and jumping for joy.  Here is wishing my readers an Annie Over, home run, good fun kind of a week.