By Laura Glover Pruitt, Sports Columnist
My girl. My sweet baby girl.
You really don’t even know what you’re into here.
You’re a coach’s daughter.
Sometimes you hear things you shouldn’t hear said about your daddy.
Sometimes you go for two days at a time without seeing daddy because you’re asleep when he leaves and asleep when he comes home.
Sometimes you’re surrounded by nothing but sweaty, stinky boys with not one single little girl in sight.
Oh but my sweet girl...sometimes...
Sometimes you hear people talk about how wonderful your daddy is, and how he invests so much time into young men and what a wonderful role model he is.
And sometimes when you get to go to the ballgames and you run on the field afterward daddy flashes that big cheesy grin and screams “Cha-sae!” (like only HE can) and grabs you up and swings you around on that fresh cut field.
And sometimes you stand there amongst all those sweaty, stinky boys and in that moment you are the most protected little girl in all of the world.
Sometimes it’s hard being you.
It’s hard sharing your daddy with so many other people.
It’s hard trying to get daddy’s attention when he has so much to focus on.
And it will get harder as you get older.
Some people won’t like you because of your last name.
Some people won’t speak to you because your daddy didn’t play their kid when they thought he should have played.
Some people will talk about you behind your back because they’re jealous of you.
But some people will love you because of who you are.
They will love you because your daddy took the time to help their son or brother when there was no one else that wanted to deal with him.
And THOSE people, those people are the ones that you surround yourself with.
You block out all the negative and focus on the positives because your daddy is a good man, a great coach and the best daddy.
You don’t understand it all, but that will come with time.
You’re a coach’s daughter.
Laura Glover Pruitt is the wife of Pisgah Head Football Coach Luke Pruitt.