Has your child turned out to be a sport-mad kid? Are they a genius on the soccer/rugby/GAA field or have you got a future Michael Phelps in the swimming lanes? Here are 21 Reasons You Know You’re Parent to a Sporty Child (aka Soccer Mom):

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1. You spend your days ferrying them around to practice, matches, competitions…
2. You spend your evenings and weekend in cold and freezing weather on the sideline
3. You spend any spare money on footballs, boots, equipment…
4. You know the rules of the game or sport inside out, in fact, you could write a book about them
5. Your car constantly smells of wet grass, wet clothes, wet wet…
6. You have visited parts of the country that you never even knew existed
7. Your weekend going-out outfits are no longer dresses and heels, but macs and galoshes!
8. You find yourself making 300 sandwiches after a match
9. You’re up at 4am regularly (and it’s not because you’re coming in from the disco…) to take your child to a gala or competition or match
10. You can explain what “offside” or “on the full” or “square ball” means in 30 words or less
11. You are a regular visitor now to A&E with suspected strains, breaks, broken noses…
12. You now have a healthy stockpile of thermal underwear
13. You find yourself shouting at the referee (* blush *) as your kids look like they want to sink into the ground with embarrassment
14. You now spend more time in your car than you do in your own house
15. Your phone calendar/wall calendar/diary has more match or car pool dates than social dates
16. Your washing machine is on full time duty washing team strips / sports gear
17. You find yourself turning to the sports fixtures in the local paper first
18. You’ve long since given up on ever owning a clean car again
19. You never seem to have hot water any more with all the post training and post match showers
20. You never before knew that one child could own so many pairs of trainers/boots/studs/*** substitute other equipment ***
21. There’s a constant hum of balls being kicked or hit up against your wall outside

Over to you now! Any other essentials for being parent to a sports mad kid? Tell us in the comments below.