Fall Soccer has officially ended and I can actually laugh when I read the above cartoon! I feel like I live at the soccer field from late September to early-November. And I'm ok with that. You see, I love being a Soccer Mom! I started this job 5 years ago. I had an almost Kindergartener who had never stepped foot on a field and a brand new baby. I was on the last leg of my maternity leave when I spotted an ad for a half-day Soccer camp and thought, "I'd better jump right on that! It might be the one chance my kid gets to experience anything half-day." Those full-time work-outside-the-home Momma's know just what I mean! So, dressed up in my SAHM disguise, I proudly dropped my almost Kindergartener off at the field for 3 hours of fun-filled Soccer Camp, complete with British instructor! After the 5th day, Lil P told me he was hooked on soccer. And there began my job as a Soccer Mom.
LP, in his very first soccer game (circa 2005)
5 years later, I know a lot about Soccer. And, I'm still as excited as I was for that very first game. It melts my Momma heart that the two little ones have followed in their brother's footsteps and taken up with the sport. I've even gotten on the field myself and played in a few 'parents vs. kids' games and loved every second of it!
LP (what Lil P's team calls him) has been blessed with an AMAZING coach for the past 3 years. Coach D never has to worry about his roster being filled - all the kids who play for him request him every year. He is very knowledgable about the sport, and gets out there and really, really works on skill development. But, he is, above all, just a tremendous role model. He's funny and he just gets the kids. They want to work hard for him, they want to listen to him, they want him to be proud. And they all know, even when they don't win, he's still proud - as long as they did their best. I love seeing the respect those kids have for him, and the parents feel just the same way.
Noodle and Monkey didn't have such a smooth introduction to Soccer. Noodle's first season went something like this:
Daddy coached Noodle's team...Noodle preferred sitting on the bench being a spectator...for the entire season. Last year, Monkey was old enough to join the ranks and he was chomping at the bit to get a pair of his own cleats! Given their closeness in age, Noodle and Monkey were able to play on the same team. WHAT A HUGE MISTAKE! They were 100% focused on each other and 0% focused on the game. They wrestled all the way down the field, never once looking at the ball. All season long, all the spectators, with the exception of two, laughed hysterically at each and every game. The two who didn't find the antics so funny would be my husband and I. This year, I practically prayed they wouldn't want to play - I didn't think I could possibly endure Season 2 of Beavis and Butthead Play Soccer. Alas, they voted to play. And, I'm glad they did. No whining, no crying, no wrestling, no rolling around, no walking off the field whenever they felt like it. They played...and they played hard! Noodle scored his very first goal!! Monkey came very close!! I was so proud of how far they had come in one short year.
I love being a Soccer Mom because I get to watch my kids find themselves on the field, to come under the tutelege of some amazing coaches, and learn what it feels like to win and to lose. I love seeing them learn how to work as a team and to leverage their own strengths with the strengths of others. My family has forged many friendships on the sidelines of the soccer field and I look forward to seeing those same faces each year at the first practice of the season. This past Saturday morning, when I woke up and remembered I didn't have to figure out how to be on two fields at the same time, I realized...I am sad to see Fall Soccer Season go. It went too quickly and it's going to be a long, cold Winter of basketball before we get to hit the field again in Spring.
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