Fostering Blog – Football Star.
So Saturday was match day and we have a very excited and very nervous young man. James (name changed) had packed and repacked his bag about 5 times and Id ironed his gear so that the creases could cut your skin. The venue is only a fifteen minute drive from home but James wanted to leave early so we were definitely on time.
Yet again, I wasn’t allowed to go in to watch the game so I dropped James at the gate and left. I could sense his nerves and I felt nervous for him. While he played I went and did some shopping. I bought lots of stuff that he liked so at least he had some comfort food if things hadn’t gone well or some celebratory food if it had been a good result.
I grabbed a coffee and sat outside in the sunshine after loading the shopping in the car. I reflected on James and how the ‘placement’ was progressing. I think it’s been a positive experience for James and that he had seen how he can progress in life, whatever happens in the future. I always worry about the young people I look after, how their life will progress when they go back home. It would be great to be able to keep in touch but, once the children return home, that very rarely happens.
It’s time to go and pick the young fella up and I feel nervous. I park in the stadium car park and wait for five minutes, no sign of him. I get out of the car and walk over to where the entrance is. There are a few parents waiting about so I wait with them.
One parent tells me that they won the game and another asks if I’m James’ Dad, I always nod in these circumstances, and he says that he had heard that James had been very good. So I felt relieved that at least the result was good.
The boys started filtering out and James was the last out, with a huge grin on his face. We walked to the car and he jumped on my back with his arms around my neck. WE got in the car and he told me about the game. He had, initially, been a substitute but one of the other boys was injured so James came on at half time with the score at 0-0.
James scored with his fourth touch! He went onto score again and his team won 2-0. James was beyond excited. The manager of the opposition was an ex professional and had shaken James’ hand and said he had played well.
The rest of the day was spent with James being very excited. He rand my sons to tell them both, he rang Paige and then he rang a couple of his mates.
So we ate all the good food and sat and watched football on the telly. He relived his goals on a number of occasions and also told me other things that had been said and done.
He sat in the garden and cleaned his boots and I put his kit in the wash. He wanted to go and watch his mates play on the Sunday but I felt that maybe we shouldn’t.
I didn’t know what kind of reaction he would get so we decided to have a lazy Sunday, may favourite type.
Fosterman – A Simply Fostering Blogging Foster Carer.
