We have a soccer star in the family!
Greg and I had little interest in registering David for soccer. We thought kindergarten would be enough excitement for him this fall. More importantly, we were deeply concerned he would have a negative experience. (The soccer camp he did two summers ago was probably overall a bad experience, but that was only a week. Facing two months of continual frustration, whining, and disappointment was more than this family could bear.) Also, the therapist I was seeing in Texas presents a pretty good case against recreational soccer for the 6 and under crowd. (She used to do play therapy with children, plus she's the mom of four sports-loving boys, so I valued her opinion on the topic.)
But David wanted to play. He had finally forgotten how much he didn't really like soccer camp, and he kept asking us when soccer was going to start. I gently tried to talk him out of it, but he insisted he wanted to play. So Greg drove over to the town rec office and signed him up.
(This was after Greg and I prayed about soccer and felt it was a good idea. Yes, it's true, Greg and I are so desperately insecure in our parenting abilities that we have to turn to Help for the most basic of decisions. Trust me, you don't want to know how much God has had to listen to our concerns about poop. Some people pray for world peace; we pray that our kids won't be afraid of the toilets at school.)
Our last problem was Mary. She has the heart (and abilities) of a soccer star. We knew she would be heartbroken not to play too. So I signed her up for a gymnastics class that meets during some of the practices and games. As a result, Mary and I haven't been there for all the soccer action, but we've enjoyed what we've seen!
Here Mary acts as a fellow photographer during a game.
This is my boy, waiting to be subbed back in.
Hey, anybody recognize that coach in the background? It's Greg! He decided he would volunteer to coach David's team. We thought it would be a good way to meet people in the community, and, let's face it, the control-freak in Greg came out and he wanted to ensure David had a good experience.
I was deeply grateful Greg was willing to make such a commitment, but, I'll be honest, I was a little worried. Greg's natural talents lie in fancy statistics, convincing the Department of Defense to fund Air Force construction projects, and being patient with me. I was nervous about Greg and a bunch of five-year-olds. Never mind the fact Greg's soccer experience consists of one year in third grade.
But Greg is a fantastic coach! He's dedicated, diligent, and organized. He researched the best practices for 6 and under soccer, and he was relieved to learn that the program here is progressive enough to support those practices. Greg worked hard to learn all of the kids' names right away. He had organized, pre-planned, fun, and purposeful practices. Now that they are playing games, he's super conscientious about equal playing time for the kids. I think the fact that Greg cares infinitely more about the kids' well-being than the game of soccer is a great asset. He never loses sight of his goal that the children have a positive experience. Soccer is secondary. (It's apparent that some of the other coaches know a whole lot about soccer, as they are always yelling at their teams about positions and technique and what not. Those kids might (might!) be learning more about soccer, but they certainly look more stressed.) I am so proud of Greg! Other parents have mentioned to me how much they appreciate the job he is doing. David is LOVING soccer, and I think the other kids are too, due in no small part to Greg. Hooray for David's daddy!
Most of all, hooray for David! We all love his enthusiasm and effort. And we're grateful for his insistence on playing soccer. It's been a great experience for our whole family.
