With Mother’s and Father’s Day taking place in the last couple of months, it really reminded me how much my parents did for me over the years, especially when I played hockey and how grateful I feel now and how every child should feel as they get older. Obviously when you’re a child you don’t think about everything your parents or guardians do for you depending on if it’s sports or music or whatever activities you partake in. Typically, it involves giving up a lot of extra time to drive to practices, games, concerts, etc. 

However, that’s just the beginning. Don’t forget about all the money and time spent on picking out equipment, instruments, team warm-ups, and of course all those extra camps during the off-season. The easiest example I can give is of my years playing hockey. Overall, I spent about 10 years playing hockey from around age five to almost 15. 

At the beginning of nearly every season we’d have to go pick out new gear because I outgrew my old stuff. Then paying for ice time, tournaments, hotels, restaurants, team outfits, the list could go on and on. Oh, and don’t forget all the skate sharpening and tape rolls that were a necessity. Plus, that’s just the regular season, if you make it to state there are even more expenses. 

Then the off-season, when there’s 4-on-4 leagues, strength and conditioning, and many other summer camps to choose from that can get you to that next level of play everyone wants to reach. Looking back on it now, it’s crazy to think how busy we were running everywhere all the time. We’d driven to tournaments all the way up in Moorhead clear across to Duluth and south to Owatonna and even a summer camp down in Mankato. 

My parents gave up a lot of week nights, weekends and even holidays. There were a lot of times we’d take off from family functions early because of hockey or end up late. Same with their work schedules, they’d leave early to rush me to a game or practice. I’ve realized now that I was pretty lucky, my parents gave up a lot of time and money to put me in hockey. 

Of course, it wasn’t just time and money either, they sat in all the cold arenas, ate the concession stand food, rushed to get any last-minute items that I forgot, and tied my skates when I couldn’t. The one thing that always gets forgotten is the worry as well. The worry about how well I’ll play, if I got hurt, all the typical parent worries with a little added in that I was playing a game that could have serious injury involved. Thankfully I came out fine but we saw some scary things in those 10 years. 

I’m grateful I have the chance to think back now on how much they gave for me to play a game that I still love to this day and now I can begin to say thank you and treat them to dinners and things like they did for me. Obviously, it’s not expected but a nice thing to do to show a little gratitude. 

To all those moms, dads, and guardians, the work you do in sports and activities may feel like an endless cycle as your child grows older but trust me, once they get to an age where they can look back on all the opportunities they had, they’ll thank you. Like I said, it’s obviously not expected it’s just what parents do for their kids but it never hurts to show your gratitude. So, to wrap it up, thank you to all those parents and guardians who were and are still running kids back and forth to what feels like a constant cycle of sports, they will thank you for it one day, it means more than you know.