Who Knew?

 Life is funny. I would have bet my house on Forrest NOT choosing to play rugby in his lifetime. This is my boy who loved organizing the neighborhood in games, but not at his physical expense! I can remember when he dressed Ellis in a life jacket - turned backward so Ellis had full coverage over his chest - and a GT football helmet so that he could be the catcher for a game of baseball played with a TENNIS ball.

But last weekend he boarded a plane from HK to Shanghai to play in the China Cup. All the high school rugby teams, boys and girls, traveled.  They won. Forrest played almost every game - and there were loads of games over a three day weekend.  And he returned injury-free.  He loved the competition, but he also loved Shanghai with it's houses and open spaces. His host family had a proper house with a back yard! The host mom also had recently taken up baking and decided to feed her rugby boys tiramisu and cheesecake for breakfast. No wonder he loves Shanghai.

But I must say, games are typically not injury-free. Those boys wear short rugby shorts and no pads.  There aren't many calls made for rough play. At times it looks like a free-for-all to us. Jeff is there for every game and is doing his best to understand the sport, but we always leave with him saying, "I still don't understand what they're doing out there." 

I would have bet my house on Ellis NOT choosing to play rugby, too. He loved his Playmobil and his stuffed animals and his dog! He was a cross country runner! He loved it, but even there he would always fall on the trails. Once, he fell in a pond at one of the meets, and this seemed normal to the entire team because they knew Ellis just had a tough time staying upright.  

So . . . Ellis drank the Kool-Aid.  Middle school rugby. Now, I have double the first-aid kit supplies.