Saturday, May 3, 2008

There's no I in Team

Today had a very hectic start! MC had a birthday party at 10am and JB had a soccer game at noon. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem. However, my husband called me on his way out the door to tell me that I had his car keys. After a mad dash over to the game, we settled into our chairs on the sideline just in time to jump into the first quarter. (I hate being late!)

It was during the first quarter that my blood began to boil. (I'm sure the 4 cups of coffee didn't help) One of our opponents was aggressively pushing. My son is the fastest on our team and usually scores all of our goals. While my husband calls out all of his advanced moves, I just agree and cheer (I'm illerate when it comes to sports). Back to the point...not only was this kid pushing, but no one was addressing it.

In addition, after 6 games, my son's teammates still don't know which way to kick the ball, how to pass and quite honestly, most of them aren't "in the game". I can understand that the kids are there to have fun, blah, blah, blah. But, they should be learning a little bit about the game. We can run around and have fun in the backyard for free on our own schedule! Needless to say, I was also a bit annoyed with the coach and other teammates.


When my son accidentally scored for the other team while trying to steal the ball, one of the opponent's parents flipped off, "Well, I guess he's scoring on both goals." I about lost it! I responded with, "That's okay...good job! You gave them that one, now come down here and get us another one!" (And he did!) Yes... I know it was rude, but you know...a mom can only take so much!

I later apologized to my son for my bad sideline attitude (we both need work in this area). I understand that this will only get worse as he gets older and I'm normally a lot more composed. I just can't stand inconsistencies and feeling like my time is being wasted. We try really hard to help him understand that he's a part of the team, but that's hard when he passes the ball to a teammate that's not there or worse, one who's picking the fuzz off his socks! Seriously...one of his teammates spent a good deal of the game tangled up in the goal!

We don't pressure him to win, we just want him to do his best. But, when the coach is coaching him to "fall back" for teammates who don't have a clue or opponents get too aggressive, he needs to know how to step up to the plate and meet the challenge head on. Since he's a natural athlete, this is something he needs to know early on. I've heard someone say, "if they can get in your head, they can get in your game." Because he is competitive (he keeps score-we don't) and this is what he loves, he needs to think like an athlete.

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