This has been a truly exhausting week for the entire family. I think we all survived, but I'm not entirely sure yet. It all started back on Tuesday when we had regular season water polo games at Granite. There was a girls game and a boys game and then a JV game for each team as well. Only, in the varsity game, in the 2nd quarter, a kid from the other team turned and punched Jonas right in the face. I was sitting at the scorer's table when it happened and couldn't believe my eyes. Neither ref saw it happen and neither of the other kid's coaches saw it happen. And in fact, the refs were going to give us a penalty for an illegal substitution despite the fact that our coach had been screaming for a timeout because there was blood pouring out of Jonas' nose and he finally just told Jonas to get out. I have never had such a visceral mother bear reaction in my life. I watched the whole thing happen and was so angry that nothing could be done because the refs hadn't actually seen it. Also because I was keeping score, I couldn't get up from the table to see if he was OK. Fortunately, Shawn was able to take that role. So as I sat at the table literally shaking and furious, and trying to focus on the rest of the game, Jonas' nose bled through the next 2 quarters. And the kid who punched him, is such a high class kid, that when we mistakenly pointed to the wrong kid (because even though the refs hadn't seen it, it was obvious that something had happened, what with the profuse bleeding that was going on,) for the refs to pull out of the water, he let that other kid get pulled out and still didn't fess up. Then afterward, the other teams coaches were trying to tell me it was a mistake and that he had accidentally been hit with an elbow or something while the kid was swimming away. But let's remember here, I saw it happen. It was no accident. It was the most blatant punch I have ever seen. I get that people get hit in water polo accidentally all the time. It's a very high contact sport. Injuries happen. But accidents are one thing, this was another thing entirely. For the coach to be telling me it hadn't happened the way I saw was a little infuriating. Finally, the kid walked up and said,"Yeah, I punched him." The coaches didn't have much to say after that.
I didn't sleep at all that night. Every time I closed my eyes, I watched that fist make contact with Jonas' nose over and over and over. And in addition to the emotional turmoil of watching it happen and of course, the physical pain for Jonas of having his nose broken, was my intense fear that after all of these years of trying to find a sport or someplace for Jonas to fit in and feel like he was good at it, that this one event would take that all away. I was sure that there would be no getting Jonas back into the water again. And starting the very next day was a huge 4 day water polo tournament, with the first boys game being against Kearns, the toughest team in the league. But guess what? I so underestimated my boy.
Wednesday also happened to be our youth's Fast and Feast, so other than the few crackers we made him eat so he could take some ibuprofen the night before, Jonas fasted all day. He went to the game in the afternoon and he got in and he played. I was so proud of him for being tough enough to get back in. It was a tough game for him because he hadn't eaten all day and every time he got bumped in the face it hurt - a LOT. But he did it. And then he did it again and again and again. Between our two teams, I think they played 16 games over those 4 days. And tournament play is exhausting. You are wrestling with someone while trying to keep your head above water and swimming back and forth non stop. Both Jonas and Samantha were so tired at the end of each day. And there was still school and homework and lessons and practicing happening when games weren't being played. (Plus driving back and forth to Kearns multiple times is exhausting in and of itself.) I was proud of Samantha, too. It can be pretty intimidating to get in and play against high school students when you're a 7th grader, but she played great and I can't wait to see how she continues to improve over the next couple of years. We were out late every night and my poor younger kids were on their own as far as getting homework done and getting themselves to bed. All the way around it was a long, tiring week for everyone of us.
When Sunday morning rolled around, I went to get Jonas up and he told me he was sick. I don't think he was actually sick, I think after spending hours every day in what feels like a physical fight, along with the broken nose, his body was exhausted. Everything hurt. So, I don't think he was sick, but I did let him stay in bed. I think he earned it. In reality, I think it's going to take all of us a couple of weeks to recover from this week. (Although I may never recover emotionally from watching my son get punched in the face.)
A few pictures from the tournament:
Samantha (#3) on the left and Coach Shawn 2nd from the right.
Tanner and Jonas
We always love a win!
Jonas with his angry eyes on.
The girls did really well in the tournament. Love to see those happy faces.
*On a side note, we were able to (in fact were required to) report the kid to USA water polo for his "infraction", so now he has a record. He'll lose his membership and not be able to play anymore if it happens again. Not much consolation, but at least it's something, right?
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