The Sports Saga Continues

Yesterday, my son had an MRI and then an appointment with his Orthopedic Surgeon.  Although they are still not absolutely certain what his injury entails, they believe it is a bruised nerve in his shoulder.  He has regained almost all of his range of motion, however, there is a lot more pain.  He also has diminished strength in his deltoids and triceps.  Every few days, his shoulder does seem to improve, but there is still a good deal of pain - it just comes about 5 minutes AFTER moving or using it a lot.  After reading some more information, I still believe it is a bruised nerve and that the nerve gets "riled up" when he uses it and then responds by flaring up with pain.

We go back to the ortho in 2 weeks, at which time he is hoping to be cleared to play the last 3 games of the season.  Right now, he is in too much pain to play, but we are hoping two more weeks will see that pain eased.

So, what do we "sports moms" do?  We support our children even through their many injuries, we encourage them as much as possible, provide the nutrition they still need even when sidelined, and be there for them when they need us.  Our role doesn't really change, just the different ways we fulfill it.  We love our kids and want them to fulfill their dreams, whatever they may be!

Would you like an opportunity to help fulfill some of those dreams with a $100 Dick's Sporting Goods gift card?  I thought you might, so go over to my main "Sports Mom" post and leave a comment for your chance to win!

More Ups and Downs of Being a Sports Mom

I though I might update you all on our sports journey these last couple weeks.  My son's MCL injury to his knee healed pretty quickly and he only missed one game.  He played the second half of the next game and all but a few plays of the third game.   However, near the end of that game, he got hit hard on the shoulder.  He experience pain for a few minutes, but it went away and he continued to play.  After the game, he realized that he could not lift his left arm at all.  There was no pain, but he couldn't lift his arm.  It took until Tuesday afternoon to get him in to see the orthopedic surgeon and he was completely perplexed.  The lack of pain made it impossible to diagnose the injury.  So he has ordered an MRI.  Unfortunately, it takes 7-14 days to get insurance approval for an MRI, so we are waiting.

I am happy to say that in the meantime, he has slowly regained used of his arm.  He can now lift it up over his head, still with no pain.  It is not quite normal -he says it takes extra effort to lift it - but we are greatly encouraged with the progress.  He has another appointment with the orthopedic surgeon on Thursday and we are hoping he is released to play for this Friday's game, which is the Homecoming Game.  Perhaps we will be able to forgo the whole MRI.

If you haven't yet entered, go to the original post here and leave a comment for your chance to win $100 Dick's Sporting Goods gift card.

If you are a sports mom.....

Cody is #56

If you are a sports mom, you understand the ins and outs of injuries.

If you are a sports mom, you are excited and worried every time your child has a game.

If you are a sports mom, you try very hard to make sure to provide your child with the nutrition he/she needs.

If you are a sports mom, you sacrifice your time to help with team activities.

If you are a sports mom, you will understand the frustration I am experiencing because my son is AGAIN dealing with an injury.  Doctors visits today to find out why he cannot lift his left arm.  Praying for something simple, that they can "pop" back into place or something like that.

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Our First Varsity Football Game

Last night, Cody played in his first official Varsity Football game!!  Wow, how much different the varsity games are from the Freshmen and JV!  It is SO much more exciting with the bands and cheerleaders, as well as the huge difference in attendance, even at an away game!  We didn't get the win, but the game was still fun!

This was actually the second game of the season, but the first game Cody was able to play because of his knee injury a few weeks ago.  He didn't play much in the first half, but he played most of the second half and did a good job on both defense and offense.  He even recovered a fumble by the other team for his team!

He came away from the game with a swollen and bruised elbow, as well as an extremely sore knee - so we did lots of icing last night and this morning.  Still sore today, but better.  He had practice this morning to review the film from the game and to do some running.  Now he can rest and relax the rest of today and tomorrow.  However, he still has practice on Monday - even though it is a holiday!!!!  Just doesn't seem fair, but I know the coaches are serious about getting their team to a place where they can win a game.

Such is life for the serious athlete!

Football Season in Full Swing

This week marks the "official" beginning of football season.  I put that in quotes because they have been practicing almost daily since about the first of April!!!  I have been very impressed with some of the changes the coaches have made this year and am excited for the games to begin!  Yes, I am a FOOTBALL MOM!!!  I get out there and scream with the best of them:-)

This week, as they have begun wearing helmets and then full pads, the temperatures have once again risen to over 110 degrees, even reaching 116!!  It is amazing to me that these boys are so used to the temps that they are able to practice full out for 2 1/2 to 3 hours in this blazing heat!  THAT is good conditioning!  However, hydration is ALWAYS a concern and now more than ever.  And the amount of calories that need to be consumed is very high as well - somewhere around 6,000-7,500 per day.  Ok, that is ALOT of cooking that I need to do:-)

I believe they have their first scrimmage either tomorrow or next Friday and the games begin on August 26th.  Yes, it will still be scorching hot for the first 6 or so games and sitting in the bleachers is a test of our heat endurance, too:-)

Cody is #56 this year and is starting as Defensive End and also playing backup Center on offense.  He is in the best shape of his life and can run like never before in his life.  So this should be an exciting season!   Plus, we get the extra entertainment of Marching Band and Cheerleaders - woohoo!  GO WARRIORS!!!

Football Camp Time

Yesterday morning, my son was off to his first varsity football camp!  They are up in Snowflake, AZ where the temps are beautiful (70s-80s) and the elevations is between 6,000-7,000ft.  They are planning to hold 3-4 practices each day!!!  I sure hope they have ALOT of good, nutritional food to feed all those boys!!

Ok, I am having a hard time not worrying about him:-)  But I guess that is a mom's job!  I sent some granola bars and Powerades with him, but I worry that he will not eat enough, drink enough, get hurt, etc.  I just keep on praying for him and putting him in God's hands....again.

If you have a son who is into football or another high intensity sport, you need to be sure that he takes in enough calories to sustain the level of activity.  I read a fantastic article a while back that really helped me to see how high his caloric intake should be and what it should consist of as far as protein, carbs, etc.  Here is a link to Fueling for Football, if you are interested.

Calories Needed to Sustain Football Player

A couple days ago, my son told me he was not recovering adequately from practices and games like he was accustomed to in the past.  He was concerned that something was wrong with his metabolism.  he was dragging and not feeling the energy he needed for his grueling schedule of 1 hour weight lifting/wrestling practice and 2 hours football practice each day.

So I did some research online and found out that there is no way he is consuming sufficient calories each day to sustain himself with this kind of schedule.  My son is going to be 16 years old next week, about 6 feet tall and weighs 195 lbs.  He is not a very big eater.  In fact, most days he only eats twice a day and not huge meals at that.  However, I discovered after some research that he should be consuming between 3300 and 4500 calories per day to sustain his body!!  Well, I am SURE he has not been eating that many calories per day.  We eat pretty healthy here, but I just didn't realize how many calories he was burning each day and what his caloric requirements were.

So the very next day I began taking charge of his diet and cooking more food for him to eat.  Amazingly, he had no trouble increasing what he ate and in just one day he felt SO much better!  I make sure he eats a good breakfast, then I prepare him a banana whey protein smoothie before he heads to school for wrestling/weight lifting and football practice in the afternoon.  And when he comes home, I make sure he eats a good dinner, plus a snack later in the evening.  We may even add another snack late morning or early afternoon to get his calorie count up to what it needs to be.

I just figured he would eat what his body needs, but apparently he is just not a big eater unless I make it happen.  So I got a wake-up call about my son's diet and will make sure he gets what his body needs.

If you have a child in sports/athletics, you may want to read this great article called Fueling for Football by Leslie Bonci, MPH, RD, LDN, is Director of Sports Nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and serves as a consultant to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pitt athletics, and several area high schools.  She discusses the importance of carbohydrates, fluid intake, pre-game meals, post-game snacks and weight issues.   I was very impressed with the information shared and will follow her suggestions in order to keep my son in top performance mode during the football season.

And just a side note:  even though they did not win their game last night, my son played REALLY awesomely!!  Even the coaches said so - not just Mom:-)

Set....Hut.....Here We Go!!

Football season has officially begun in the Burgan home!  This last week was Cody's first football game of the season playing JV football.  He started as center, and also played alot of defensive line (which is what he prefers).

Now, he has been practicing and doing weight camp almost every day since early April.  But now the games have begun!  It is very exciting to see him doing what he loves, and doing it quite well!  He has a game almost every week for the next two months.  I am helping to feed the boys each week before their games and my hubby is going to be video taping all the games.  We definitely like to be involved in helping with things that our kids are doing:-)

And I KNOW that we will be watching ALOT of football games on TV, too, as the NFL and college season get underway.  So.....football season, here we come!!

Another Football Win

Last evening, my son played the last of his winter season schedule footballs games and they won 18-15. It was a very close game and they won by holding the other team at the 4 yard line on the 4th down with less than a minute in play time!! Needless to say, it was a very stressful game to watch! Finger-biting, to say the least!

Cody played extremely well - was involved in quite a few tackles, as well as playing several different positions on both offense and defense. He is learning to be very versatile, and the coaches have learned that his greatest strength is the defensive line, so when things get tough, they put him in there (even though he starts as tight end on offense:-). I am very proud of him and how he has worked hard to learn many different positions. I appreciate that he puts all his effort into every game and always plays hard, doing his best for the team.

He has overcome his fall injury that sidelined him from Freshman football, and has proven to himself that he is healed. This Saturday, they begin playoffs. Don't know how far they will go (they were 3-4 in the regular season), but they have gotten better each week, so I will be there cheering them on for every game they get to play.

It is such a joy to see my son doing what he loves so much - playing football! It is nerve racking being the mom and worrying about injury, but it also does my heart good to see him pursue his passion.

Proud Football Mom

Yesterday, my son finally received his medical release to play football again - with the promise that if he experienced pain he would stop! Well, it happened to be game day and there he is, #68! He played the second half of the game and had no problems (except he is exhausted because he is a little out of conditioning:-).

If you missed the earlier post, he suffered an ASIS Sartorius Avulsion Fracture to his left hip before half-time of the first game of the season. And now there is only one game left - but at least he is getting to play!! And he is happy!! And that makes Momma happy (and worried, too)!

Way to Go Steelers!

What a great Super Bowl game! My son and I really enjoyed watching the game and decided that we really are tried and true Steeler fans. Since we live in Phoenix, we were also very excited that the Cardinals went to the Super Bowl, but down deep in our hearts we hoped that the Steelers would win. But we hoped it would be a good and close game, which it surely was! We took alot of ribbing from the folks around here, but the fans here in Phoenix are not as crazy loyal as those Steeler fans in Pittsburgh.

We have been trying to describe to our kids (who did NOT grow up in Pittsburgh like we did) what it is like in Pittsburgh when the Steelers go to the Super Bowl. And others around this area just don't get it when they see the intense loyalty of us Steeler fans:-). I told them it is heritage. The Steelers are a Pittsburgh institution that has been around for more years than any of us can remember and not only that - they are really good at football!!! They are the winningest team in all of Super Bowl history! Now that is a heritage to be proud of:-)

What A Game! Congrats to the Giants!

Although I am not a huge sports fan, I do follow football some and usually watch the Superbowl. I was hoping the Giants would win, but really didn't believe they would. It was an awesome game! And they played like the champions they now are. Pretty cool that Eli won (and MVP) the very next year after Peyton! What a proud papa they must have!