FIRST GAME JITTERS FOR BUBEN FAMILY

The alarm clock goes off at 7:00am Saturday morning, Leslie Buben rolls out of bed to begin a very special day for her family.  Today is the first ever Pop Warner football game for her eight year old son Ben.  Leslie is feeling a little nervous, as most mothers would on the day of the first Pop Warner football game.  Ben has played other sports, and Leslie enjoyed those, but this is football and her son is about to be tackled, pushed and knocked to the ground.

Making the game even more nerve racking is the fact that Leslie’s husband, John is out of town.  After a light breakfast with Ben and younger sister Grayson, Ben heads to his room to dress in his Olde Providence Recreation Association Patriots uniform. Also missing today is Leslie’s oldest son Austin, he is away with his father.

Following her husbands request, Leslie pulls the video camera from the closet so she can record the entire game.  The car is loaded and The Buben’s head to South Charlotte Middle School for the game.

The first order of the day is the official Pop Warner weigh-in.  John tips the scales at 60 pounds and then heads to the field for warm-ups.

With Ben on the field warming up, we asked Leslie to give us her thoughts right before kickoff. 

“I am nervously excited, I know he will be fine, but it’s still kind of scary to think about for the first time. Last week in practice, Ben got tackled and flipped over.  Naturally my husband was there, and only told me it was a good practice.  Ben told me not to worry, that it was fun.”

Leslie has relied on advice from friends with children that have played for a few years.  Her friend Susan King has assured her not to worry, that Ben will be ok and has plenty of pads on.

The game begins and Ben is quick to join the action on both sides of the ball.  Leslie stands on the nearby track filming the entire game for her husband to enjoy upon his return home.  After two quarters, we catch Leslie whistling loudly for The Patriots as the game begins to go their way.  She seems at ease as the game progresses and she catches a big smile on Ben’s face.

As the clock winds down, Ben makes a hard tackle to end the game.  Leslie and the remainder of the Patriot fans erupt in cheers for the victory.

“This was great, I had such a good time, everything went well and Ben had a lot of fun.  I just wish my husband could have been here.”

Ben lets us know how much fun he had as well.

“The game was really fun, I got to play a lot of positions and our team won.  I was kind of nervous this morning, but now I can’t wait until our next game.

With those words Ben heads for the parking lot a winner and Leslie walks away feeling a lot better about her sons decision to play football.

With over 1500 kids in South Charlotte playing Pop Warner Football, Leslie was just one of many mothers watching their son’s first football game on Saturday.  The South Charlotte Sports Report sends out our best wishes to all the moms that set field side this morning and we hope everyone came away with a wonderful experience.

Good Luck next week!