High School Football Team Has ‘Mom’s Night’ Where Moms Get To Hit Stick Their Sons
The Panthers in Washington, Illinois, went viral after sharing some footage from their annual Mom's Night football training.
Being the parent of a teen athlete is a lot. The cost of safety gear, sports equipment, and gas to get to next weekend’s regional tournament quickly add up. Sports parents invest countless hours taking kids to and from practices and games, throwing pasta parties, and helping their student athlete cope with particularly devastating losses.
And, like default parent syndrome, moms tend to take on a bulk of the work when it comes to ensuring their child is set to be happy, safe, and yes, maybe even win while participating in said sports. So it makes sense that a group of sports moms in Washington, Illinois took the opportunity to blow off some steam and tackle their sons during pre-season football practice.
Washington Community High School had a Mom’s Night during a Thursday evening practice, where moms got to learn more about the equipment, rules, and a few football plays. And, of course, the moms got to tackle their sons.
It’s hard not to watch without laughing as player after player goes down hard at the hands of the person who cares for them most.
The moms geared up in Washington Panthers jerseys and pads to tackle their sons into a big orange practice pad. Each of the moms gives her son a hug or high five at the end of the drill, so clearly there are no hard feelings — just hard hits.
Let’s be clear: no one is condoning any type of violence to resolve mother-son issues (or any interpersonal issues, for that matter). But it is cool to see the moms who often are the ones nursing wounds and accompanying their sons to PT or other doctor appointments getting to try out the sport in a very heavily padded and controlled environment.
The practice footage quickly went viral on Twitter and TikTok and had other parents wishing for a special sports night.
“People who have never raised a teenager have no idea how therapeutic this must be,” one parent wrote on Twitter. Other moms tagged their sons’ coaches in the post, asking for this to become a thing for their team.
And it seems like if more schools had this type of event, the internet at large is ready to take it just as seriously as the NFL. One man did a full breakdown of the moms tackling their sons, taking note of their technique and speculating as to the reason why the mom wearing jersey 87 gives particular oomph to her tackle (hint: it has to do with missed chores).
The deadpan commentary is just as good, if not better, that the original footage.
