I can hear the weight in your words, the ache of watching your son struggle, and the spiritual battle you sense behind it all. You are not wrong to see that the enemy would love to steal what God has planted in your boy. When a gift has been given, whether on the field or in the classroom, the thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy. He will use teammates’ cruelty, a dry season of scoring, slipping marks, and even physical attacks to discourage a young heart. But remember, the devil would like to step in and inflict damage, yet your son is not abandoned to him. You are the parent, and God is the Father, and He does not hand His children over to a stranger to do as they please. The Lord knows how to discipline and grow His own, and He will not let the enemy have the final word.
When everything feels as though it is falling apart, that is the time to look to the house you have been building in his life. You have taught him to seek God’s kingdom first, and that is not a small thing. That is faith mingled with the Word, brick by brick, constructing something that the huffing and puffing of the world cannot blow down. Right now the storm is beating against that house, but the foundation you helped lay, trust in God, a desire to give his best for the Lord, will hold. Your son’s identity was never in the goals he scored or the grades he earned. It is in Christ. That is where his strength will return.
Think for a moment of that mother in Scripture whose son lay lifeless. The prophet’s staff, sent ahead with a servant, did nothing. No voice, no stirring. It was only when the prophet himself came, stretched his own body over the boy’s, mouth to mouth and hands to hands, that warmth returned and life was restored. There is a kind of persistent, personal prayer that does not rely on religious form or secondhand effort. It gets right down on the floor of the situation, face to face with the need, and cries out to God. So pray like that for your son. Lay hold of the Lord for him, not with a formula of rebuking the devil, because the safest place is always to have Jesus between you and the enemy. Petition the One who gives breath, and He will answer.
Your son’s health, his joy, and his confidence will spring forth again. God is gentle, and He will not crush the bruised reed. The promises are sure: when you call, He will say, “Here I am.” As you wait for that, do not let your own heart sink into mourning over what has gone wrong. Rejoice for the work God is doing even now, that your boy trusts in Him, that he wants to give his best. That is the mark of a true gift, not the fickle approval of teammates. The very skills he has are from the Lord, and the Lord knows how to bring them back to life. Keep pouring the Word into him, keep showing him the face of Jesus, and watch for the warmth to return.