A Sport for Reed....Finally!

Team athletics has never really panned out for Reed... When he was in T-ball he was kicked out for excessive bat swinging. When he was in Soccer, he was on one side of the field collecting bugs and weeds while the rest of the team was chasing the ball. Football worked out ok because he ended up on the best team the league had that year....but had no real interest or understanding of the game. Getting him to practices and games was torture because he wanted to stay home and do absolutely nothing. 2 years ago my friend told me about Water Polo. Reed loves swimming and is totally built for the sport, so I enrolled Reed in a little training class....he agreed to try it on the condition that he didn't have to wear a Speedo. I bought him some jammers (long speedo) and he went to the class. He came out with a smile on his face every time....I also noticed that his general demeanor changed after practice..( I think he was so tired from swimming that he had no energy to fight.) This alone convinced me that he was going to play in high school. He has trained with the team for 2 summers and now is playing for his high school.
Polo is a pretty violent sport. There's alot of dunking, kicking, speedo ripping and hitting under the water. The first game I ever went to was so violent that a "bully kid" was being so agressive that the entire opposing team attacked him. Which was quite dangerous because he was in a headlock being punched under water. The teams were ejected...and I was re-thinking the sport. But I was re-assured by other parents that this is out of the ordinary. I think that some of the physical aggression is good for Reed, because with 3 sisters at home there is no outlet. Also the 2 hours of exercise a day are whipping him into shape.