This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: How to be a Sports Mom.

Lots of homeschool high schoolers are not just busy with academics; they are also engaged athletes! This week Kym and Vicki talk about what it’s like to be a sports mom (a healthy version of being a sports mom, that is).

7Sister Kym and her husband have four now-adult children. Her youngest are twins. When they were young, Kym had lots of mom-friends who worked at our local YMCA. The kids of those mothers to play in the gym and swim in the pool at the Y. Kym’s kids were buddies with those the kids. One day at a play date, the kids all came up to her and said, “Mommy, you should work at the YMCA, so we could go play there too with our friends.”

The moms at the play date heard and answered, “Well, there’s an opening.”

At the time, Kym had zero interest in working at the YMCA. She was doing other things that were taking up more than enough time, but out of love for her kids, she started working at the YMCA. She found that one of the great benefits was all of the sports that her kids could to try there.

At the time, Kym’s youngest were about four and her oldest was ten years old. Her eight year old son began playing playing roller hockey at the Y.  Her twin daughters wanted to try every single sport.

There were so many skills Kym and her kids learned over the years. Kym was not passive about learning the skills. She discussed with her kids about:

Kym’s family had always enjoyed watching hockey on television, along with fun hockey movies like Mighty Ducks. When the twins were old enough, they joined a local youth hockey team and that was that. They convinced their parents that they wanted to go all in on hockey. Kym and her husband decided to make it happen.

They played women’s youth travel team hockey all through high school. These adventures took the family to games in many places around the U.S. (One of their best friends on their team was Emily Hockey who is now an astrophysicist. Keep your eyes open soon for an interview with her on the Homeschool Highschool Podcast!)

Kym and her husband invested in the twins’ dreams. It took faith and budgeting, but the family was committed. They often found that when a need arose, they could pray and something would come for help. For instance, one of the twins became a goalie but needed new equipment. They prayed. Kym randomly ran into another mom whose son had been a goalie for a short time but hated it. The mom sold Kym the equipment at a price that fit the budget!

Being willing to budget and to pray is key!

The twins graduated from high school and went on to play club hockey at the University of Delaware.

The family had to drive all over the country! Kym and her husband prayed before they made this commitment to their twins’ hockey team. She says,

“I can’t tell you how many prayers I prayed, not like please let this work out, but please just make it clear.”

As high school progressed, Kym and the twins had to discuss college search and choices. Should they look for colleges with women’s club hockey or NCAA hockey? It was a tough decision and needed lots of prayer and wisdom. They decided on club hockey because they wanted to make certain that they had time to prioritize academics. NCAA-level sports might not give them enough academic study time.

Today, both twins have graduated and have sports-related careers. They still love hockey and are pleased with the choices they made in personal development, academics, and sports.

Thank you Seth Tillman for editing.

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