Soccer Sundays

Hello there.

This spring, my husband and I decided to coach our youngest son's soccer team. We made this decision for a couple of reasons. First, we wanted to do it for our son. He is the youngest of our children and he is so much younger that he tends to follow the teenager activities and not vice-versa. Second, we were frustrated with the past coaching and team philosophies. We decided that instead of complaining on the sideline, we'd be proactive and try to make a difference. It was scary-particularly because neither my husband or I are avid soccer aficionados.

The goal of our first week, for us, was to get through it without letting on that we didn't know much about soccer and, for our team, was that they'd have fun. Having had three older children, I remembered some of the drills they did and I had our team do them. Then we ran up and down the field in a scrimmage and lastly we invited the parents to join us for the last five minutes of practice.

The last five minute thing was something we threw in just for the heck of it. We knew that our son was excited to have us coaching so we figured that the kids would be excited to have their mom or dad play with them. The first time we tried it the parents looked at us-stunned. Then they smiled and a few ran right out on the field enthusiastically and a few joined us reluctantly.

The next week, all the parents brought sneakers.
The next week, all the kids couldn't wait for the last five minutes to grab their parent to play.
The next week, the parents couldn't wait to join.

Now we are down to the last two weeks of our spring season. Our team is so cool. All the parents know each other. All the parents know all the children. During the games everyone is rooting for all of the kids. After the games, the parents and kids hang around just to talk or to kick the ball. It is amazing. We are hearing so many positive comments about how much the kids look forward to coming to soccer. We see how improved the kid's skills are getting. We even see improvement in the parents!!! Most importantly we see how happy both the parents and the kids are during our time together.

My husband and I are looking forward to the end of the season-not because it was a burden or a terrible experience-but because we know it's time for it to end. We gave each player the best of what we knew. We worked to instill a spirit of team work and unity. We opened up the team to positive family interaction.

It was a good thing that my husband and I went out of our comfort zone and stretched our abilities. We got so much back from our team families. I strongly encourage others to take the plunge and get involved in something you would not ordinarily think you could do.

Until fall soccer season....
Have hope,
Donna



Who would have guessed