Spartan Moms Make Spartan Athletes Tick

 In my role I get the opportunity to meet and get to know many of the Spartan athletes. In the sports that get the bulk of my time, I get to know many of

 

What most people would call super, the best moms call ordinary

In my role I get the opportunity to meet and get to know many of the Spartan athletes. In the sports that get the bulk of my time, I get to know many of the parents. You’ve seen it. The camera pans the sideline and you see a young man, strong, bulky athletic and the first words you hear are him declaring, “Hi Mom.”

 

We can’t talk about all of the mothers that make the Spartan Nation, but we can mention a few of the many and what they mean to the stars that you love watching in athletic competition.

 

Recently, after a tough workout at the Duffy I was walking through and ran into Garrick Sherman. Sherm is the big youngster from Kenton, Ohio, who had just completed his first season for Coach Tom Izzo. Not resting from a Final Four run, he was drenched in sweat already getting bigger and stronger for the next season. I mentioned a private conversation that I had had with his parents at the Final Four and he said, ““My mom is the greatest. She is not only a great person, but a great mom and I am really blessed to have her.” Now Garrick feels just as strong about his dad, but that isn’t for today.

 

Durrell Summers sounds like he borrowed the admiration of Sherm for his mother. La’Andrea has literally poured her heart and soul into Durrell and he described her as, “She is determined. She always has my back. My mother has always given up everything for what is best for me. She is love.”

 

Hearing the commitments of these young men to the women in their lives is touching. Trevor Anderson said it best when he declared of his mother Dionne, “I don’t know if I can ever get married because every woman I meet is judged against her. She is my everything.”

 

Life isn’t fair, but moms can stand in the gap. Draymond Green says of his mother Mary, “My mom is my best friend. She is everything in the world to me. She is all that is right to me. I love her and I owe her so much.” Jon Misch describes his mother Lori as, “She is completely my role model and best friend. What she has given up for me and to me is nothing other than love. Without a doubt she is my very best friend.”

 

Good mothers stand out of the way to their star athletic sons and don’t become a nuisance. From time to time you do meet some who think they know better than a coach, or who try to manipulate a “career” of their college athlete child, but the good ones stay out of the way. They let them grow up. Patrice Nichol, mother of Keith and Kyle, is a role model on how to handle success of your children. “My mom is the support of our family and is the whole world to us. She is always giving and always doing the little things. She is amazing at doing the little things that maybe don’t get noticed. She really serves our family and I am so proud of her,” was how Keith described her.

 

Incoming Izzo recruit Russell Byrd shares the sentiments for his mother Kebra that other Spartan athletes feel. “My mom is the definition of what God calls us all to be and that is a servant. She defines a servant’s heart. It is unbelievable what she does for not only me, but our family. She is my accountability partner for me and my devotions. Making sure I am spending time with the Lord, but more importantly making sure that he gets my best over everything else in my relationship with him.”

 

All of these women are extraordinary, but don’t ask them. They just don’t see themselves that way. “Motherhood means making sacrifices for your children that may not seem natural to a selfish person, but are normal for a mother. Sacrificing for Korie hasn’t always been easy, but the decision to do it was,” was how Latonia, mother of Korie Lucious described Motherhood.

 

Lori Misch, mother of Spartan LB Jon built on Latonia’s comments. “Joy. Being Jon’s mother can be summed up in one word: Joy. Being a mom means joy.”

 

Across economics, color, religion it doesn’t matter. The Spartan Nation’s athletes are often blessed with great moms. “There is no doubt I am a mamma’s boy. She does everything for me and does anything she can for people. She is amazing. She never misses anything. She is always there for me,” was how Spartan LB Eric Gordon described his mother Kim.

 

Mike Sadler was highly recruited from coast to coast and from the biggest name in college football. He is an incoming recruit for Mark Dantonio as a kicker and a punter. He bragged on his mother Karen by saying, “My mother would sacrifice anything for me or my family. We couldn’t function as a family without her. She understands what love is. She has never been anything but a help and I can’t tell you in words how much I love her.”

 

So today at Spartan Nation we honor all of the moms. All of them who make their kids who we love and enjoy watching in competition tick. We also thank a certain coach for the idea for this article.