My 16-year-old son loves sports. As a small child, he could tell you who the quarterbacks were for every professional football team, and he still can today. He knows their stats, where they went to college and what teams have the best guys to go with that QB. When players switch teams, he knows that, too. And on the rare occasion when an athlete switches sports, it’s always fun to hear why he thinks they’ve done that.

So earlier this week, when Klayton informed me he was going to play high school soccer, I was not surprised at all — even though he’s never played before. He’s always been a football and basketball kind of kid. This spring, he took on golf for his high school team, along with track. He’s a busy kid — but as they say, you’re only young once.

Watch and learn

He wound up in this game, along with a couple of his buddies, because the team needed extra players due to injuries and absences. So, I went to watch, and sat down knowing I had only ever watched two soccer games prior. That means I didn’t know the rules, but any time I can watch my kid compete is a good day.

He did get quite a bit of playing time, and one of his other friends, who was a substitute player as well, scored four of their six goals — including the winning goal in overtime. The friend had clearly played the sport before. They had a great time and think they want to play more soccer, but my lesson from that cold night in the bleachers was a little bigger: Try something new. You might be good at it.

Don’t criticize

This leads me to a conversation string I saw on Twitter the other night where a farmer was criticizing other farmers for planting corn on corn year after year, saying that was lazy. What the criticizer didn’t realize was all the other practices said farmer was using on those fields, including cover crops to help build organic matter in the soil.

I really dislike how people have become keyboard warriors and will say just about anything on social media, when they really don’t know the whole situation. Farmers and ranchers are not people I would ever call lazy. They make decisions to improve the business, and protect the land and its resources. Finding new or different practices to use helps.

I see farmers across the state of Iowa adding irrigation pivots, trying new cover crops, and even adding another crop to their rotations. Farming isn’t what it used to be, and we are more aware than ever as to how the practices will affect the land for future generations.

So, give it a shot. Try something new, do something different and give it your all. You just might just be good at it. It just might work on your farm or ranch. You just might score a goal you didn’t know was possible. And if it doesn’t work, at least you can say you tried.

On another note, please save the date for the 2022 Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa, on Aug. 30, 31 and Sept. 1. It’s sure to be a great event, and I hope to see you all there to learn about new practices and see new equipment and technology.

Comments? Email [email protected].