By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher Moms. How can you ever repay them for all they do for you? All the cold, rainy games they sit through on fold-out chairs or aluminum bleachers. All your smelly laundry they put up with after every game, practice or workout. All the bottles of Gatorade they bring and sneak over to you on the bench when the coach turns their back. All the encouraging words after a loss, all the hugs and cheers after a big win. My mother was a constant at my high school baseball games, never complaining when a bitter wind howled across the open field, or when the sun beat down on her neck during a hot game late in the season. Once, during a summer-league game on a dry, cracked infield, a wicked ground ball smashed me right in the mouth, knocking my front tooth out and knocking me out cold momentarily. When I came to, I spit my tooth out and proceeded to lay down a string of profanity that would have made the father in the movie “A Christmas Story” proud. I thought my mother, a weekly church-goer, would faint right there in the stands! Yes, moms have to put up with a lot when dealing with high school athletes. Which is why this year, for Mother’s Day, Glory Days Magazine is going to hook some team moms up with a couple of prize packages to thank them for their dedication. Announcing the Glory Days Magazine Mother’s Day “Team Mom of the Year” contest. Here are the ground rules: There is only one requirement, and that is a mom must have some current affiliation with a sports team (any season, fall, winter, spring sports) from one of the 10 high schools we currently cover (Ocean City, EHT, Mainland, Pleasantville, Atlantic City, Absegami, Oakcrest, Holy Spirit, Cedar Creek and Atlantic Christian.) This means she can be the mom of any current high school male or female athlete (on any level, freshman, JV, varsity), a coach or assistant coach who is a mom, or the wife of a coach who is a mom. Moms can be nominated by anyone, and we particularly encourage student-athletes to submit nominations. Now, how to nominate a mom? Very simple. Just send an email to sully@acglorydays.com with “Mom” in the subject line, and tell us, in 200 words or less, why your mom is the best! HERE IS HOW WE ARE GOING TO HOOK UP THE MOM OF THE YEAR: The grand-prize winner will receive a $100 gift certificate to be used for any of the services offered at Esthetica salon in Northfield. Hair, nails, spa treatment, whatever she desires. In addition, she will receive dinner for two at Roberta’s, an outstanding restaurant located in Northfield, right next to Esthetica. And that’s not all! Ben Hale of Ben Hale Photography (who does cover photography for us) will take a portrait photo of the winning mom along with the team she represents, as well as several individual portraits with her son or daughter, and those photos will be posted in a special photo gallery on Glory Days Magazine’s Facebook page. We will also print the winning nomination letter at our website, acglorydays.com. We’ll also hook up the grand-prize winner with some Glory Days Magazine T-shirts courtesy of Think Ink in Mays Landing and will feature her in a “Momversation” article in an upcoming print edition of Glory Days Magazine. There also will be two other secondary prize packages involved in this contest. The first will feature two one-hour massage sessions with Tammy Ryan, owner of Whispers of Serenity in Marmora, a 4-pack of Glory Days Magazine T-shirts, a team picture with mom as well as a photo gallery on our Facebook page featuring the team she represents during one of their games. The second features a $25 gift certificate to be used online with Cruise Control Gear, an Ocean City-based online sports apparel company, as well as a 4-pack of Glory Days Magazine T-shirts, team picture and Facebook photo gallery. So again, here’s what you do to submit a nomination for Glory Days Magazine’s “Team Mom of the Year”: Email your nomination, in 200 words or less, to sully@acglorydays.com. Include the word “Mom” in the subject line, and include a phone number where you, the sender, can be contacted if the mom you are nominating is chosen by Glory Days Magazine staff as one of the winners. The deadline for entries is Monday, May 5, and winners of the prize packages will be announced Tuesday, May 6. Oh, and athletes: Hug your mom. She deserves it. Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays [adsense]