It starts, harmlessly enough, with your first child. When that child gets old enough to play sports — in some cases, “old enough” being age 3 — you might get him or her started in a sport. Within a couple of years, the child might be playing multiple sports.
Somewhere in that time frame, another child comes, and that kid starts playing sports. And then maybe another, and maybe even another. Soon, all the kids are playing multiple sports, and a significant portion of your nonwork schedule is tied up in getting kids to practices and games on time. Oh, and providing encouragement and cheering them on are somewhat important, too.
Life is like this for a number of Emporia-area parents with children in youth and high school sports. And that’s more than OK with them. They’re willing to sacrifice time and some relaxation to see their kids compete, have fun and be happy. They even have fun doing it.
Marla McClellan and her husband, Bill, have plenty of uniforms and equipment to worry about. Their three children — Tyler, 17, Reagan, 12, and Grant, 10, — play at least three sports apiece.
“When they are offered a sport in school, my rule has always been, you have to try it,” Marla said. “My oldest one, when we moved (to Allen) in seventh grade, he had to play football, had to play basketball and had to do track, so you try everything. Because you never know what you’re going to be good at and what you’re not going to be good at.”
Marla doesn’t mind the hectic nature of running her kids from one sport to another. But she does worry about her personal sanity “all the time.”
“You think, ‘What did I forget? Who did I forget? Oh, you were supposed to have apples for this game?’” she said. “So you learn to make yourself big notes and organize everything together.”
All the kids, all the sports, and all the equipment can make for some confusion sometimes. Marla said the kids have to responsible for their own equipment.
“If you get to a game without a baseball mitt, that sounds like your problem,” she said. “But you have to take it in the house, because you never know whose car you’re going to get in. ... If your baseball shoes are in Mom’s van, and she’s at a basketball tournament, you’re out of luck.”
In the summer, Marla and Bill make each of the kids pick just one sport to play.
“We let each one of them do something in the summer, but I’ve had enough trouble juggling the one,” Marla said. “You can’t have one playing basketball and baseball. If you have two kids, you’re fine, but when you have three, you can’t.”
Jeff Dakin’s household is just as sports-crazy. He and his wife, Jami, have five kids playing sports in their household: their three children, Jared and twins Breck and Bryce, plus their nephew Dylan and niece Jessica.
Listing off how many of the kids are in each type of sport takes awhile for Jeff.
“Two wrestle, two football, one basketball, one cross country, one dance, two baseball. We’ve got it covered... and we’re pretty much all year-round.
“It’s something that me and my wife enjoy as much as anything else,” he said. “It’s kind of a family activity for us, and it’s entertainment for us.”
One of the two wrestlers is Jared, now a standout for Emporia High’s wrestling team. He started wrestling at age 5 in the Emporia Kids Wrestling Club, an organization in which parents can get their kids started early on the basics of wrestling — and haven’t been shy about doing so.
At the club’s practice last Wednesday, coach Matt Collins hushed a chattering gym full of very young, yet experienced, wrestlers.
“Quiet!” he ordered. “Watch Braxton!”
Braxton Marstall, 11, is considered the best wrestler for his age in the Kids Wrestling Club. With the rest of the club watching, he demonstrated the offensive position technique Collins wants, feet gliding effortlessly as he circles around his partner, his hands hitting each place they’re supposed to hit.
Braxton’s been wrestling for four years and has been to state three of those years. Motioning toward the heavily decorated opposite wall of the wrestling gym, he has a clear goal in mind for his high school wrestling future: “Try and have my name up there on the banners. First place.”
Wrestling isn’t Braxton’s only love, though. Along with it, he lists football as a favorite sport; his father, P.J., is an assistant football coach at Emporia High. Braxton and his older brother, Brady, both wrestle and play football, basketball and baseball.
“It does take a lot of time,” said their mother, Jana Marstall. “But this is what we choose to do as a family. That’s kind of our entertainment; that’s the time we spend together.”
Braxton knows his parents’ support is important to his success.
“My dad helps me quite a bit on the mental stuff,” he said. “My mom’s there to cheer me on.”
The Kids Wrestling Club takes children as young as age 3 and currently has two members at that age. Emporia High wrestling coach Greg Buckbee, whose 7-year-old son, Gabe, is also part of the kids club, readily acknowledges that the experience Emporia kids gain from joining the club makes his job easier once they reach Emporia High, which routinely boasts high numbers of state qualifiers and champions.
“Most of your state placers, state champs in high school have been through the kids club,” he said.
Both Gabe and Buckbee’s 11-year-old daughter, Maddy, are multiple-sport kids. Gabe’s other sports include baseball and soccer; Maddy dances and plays softball.
“I wouldn’t call it high-stress,” Buckbee said. “You have to really plan. We’re a very busy family, with me being a head coach, and my kids being involved in all the things. My wife’s in college.
“It’s a very busy time, and it’s worth it. They enjoy doing it, and I enjoy going to watch them.”
Running kids feverishly from one sport to another is a lot of work, to be sure. But in an area with so many opportunities for youth to compete and have fun, it seems that what parents get out of it equals, or even exceeds, what they put in.
“And someday, we’ll have a life,” Marla McClellan says, laughing. “Someday.”
jigsawgirl22 (anonymous) says...
Great story, but you spelled their last name wrong. It's McClellan.
December 1, 2007 at 1:17 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
glarson (anonymous) says...
Mea culpa.
Of course, Marla and Bill spell their name McClellan. They have the entire time I've known them. I should have caught that one. The Web version is fixed.
Gwen Larson
December 3, 2007 at 7:41 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )