Fall Sports!
If back-to-school means pencils, backpacks, and lunchboxes, it also means the return of the Foster Taxi—me shuttling kids off to their athletic adventures, armed with a stash of chips, fruit, and now, for Owen, glucose tabs. This year’s lineup: Soccer, Cross Country, and for my T1D warrior… Karate. Yup, I’m basically teaching the younger one how to beat up the older one. Parenting win? We’ll see.
We found a local class at the YMCA, which is perfect—it’s less than a 10-minute drive. In my head, I thought, Great, I’ll save my run for when we’re there. I’m not quite ready to leave him solo for the hour, and having a dedicated time carved out to run? A godsend. One location, easy drive, no hour-long trek like cross country, no scattered fields all over town like soccer. Score one for karate.
The Sensei is fantastic. Probably in his 60s, but extremely fit, with that calm-but-firm presence only martial arts instructors seem to have. He doesn’t get rattled by the chaos of 30 kids ranging from ages 8 to 18. Most of the time, he just lets the noise roll off, but when he asks for silence—boom, silence. Instant respect.
From a diabetes standpoint, karate checks a lot of boxes. I can stash a Gatorade on the sidelines for Owen in case he goes low. He’s getting solid activity, but it’s not the constant aerobic grind of cross country or soccer. So from a blood sugar management perspective, it should be much easier. (If he wants to do more intense sports later, I’m all for it—but baby steps.) It’s a nice mix of movement and control.
Funny enough, that’s probably why my mom had me in karate when I was Owen’s age. Some things just come full circle.
So far, practice has been… anticlimactic. But in the best way—smooth, simple, no major hiccups. And as a parent of a kid with T1D, “anticlimactic” is a word I’ll happily take any day of the week.