Saturday, September 27, 2008

Soccer seasons past

Watching my two sons play soccer this past weekend and going to a local high school soccer game brought me back to the first season my older son and played while my dh coached the sport. The caliber of the team was something out of  the  "Bad News Bears" if you are familiar with the movie.  No, the coach didn't drink, and no, there was no swearing on the field, but there were definitely moments of cringing and turning away as we parents watched our kids flounder on the field. 
First of all My dh was coach by default because the year before the regular coach tended to be late or not show, so the dh would have the kids run around the field, and do some basic stuff.
The following year he decided to coach a team. The other coaches in the town picked thier players which really wasn't in the spirit of a  recreation league but his team took on all kids. As you can guess the first practice was quite a sight. I was hanging with the parents a couple of whom said they had signed up their child so that he could get some exercise because they were always in front of the tv or game. As our kids were huffing and puffing around the field for their first lap we were starting to yell out encouraging words "Go ____ Go!, Run! Just DO IT!" Then one of the parents made a comment that she thought her kid would run faster if she put his Nintendo on a stick in front of him, that had us laughing, another mom was thinking about tying Kentucky Fried Chicken to a piece of string on the ground and pulling it. We were in tears. I didn't comment on what would have made my kid go faster - the latest installment of the Harry Potter book he was completely immersed in them at that time.
Well, the season went on and the kids learned skills, they never won a game, much as we parents tried right up until that last game! I'll never forget the score was 0-8 and our team had the ball. A bunch of us parents were running down the field pointing to the goal. "Over Here! Over Here! Kick the Ball OVER HERE!!" Sounding like lunatic cheerleaders, soccer moms and dads gone w-h-a-k-o, trying to stop another game from being a washout but .. but.. tweeeeet! The referee blew the whistle and the game was over. One more game we picked out every thing that our kids did right and pointed it out on the was home, and this time instead of wait 'till next week it was wait 'till next year.

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