1. You'll never know if you like something unless you try. So when Leah and Adam both expressed interested in soccer, we signed them up and gave it a try!
2. A good coach makes all the difference. I'm not sure either of my kids had one this year. Adam's coach had a bunch of tasmanian devils on his hands, but did a great job of controlling them and definitely knew his stuff. Adam even scored a few goals this season!
Leah's coach used to coach a varsity or college team, and he seemed to struggled to know what to do with the three or four girls on the team that had never played before. Despite promising himself that he wasn't going to get involved this time around, Jason soon started attending every one of the twice-weekly practices in addition to all of the games. It did my heart good to know that Leah had a loving advocate on the sidelines!
3. I am not a soccer mom. You will never hear me screaming at my kids the way that some parents did during the games.
4. You've only failed if you give up. Bless my sweet girl's heart, Leah was so eager to be part of the team. She volunteered to be goalie in her first game (the first soccer game she had ever seen!) and was completely unprepared for the yelling and speed and confusion of the whole game. She didn't understand the details of the goalie's rules, but she didn't give up. Even with two goals scored on her and many tears of frustration after the game was over, she never gave up. She did not love her soccer experience, but she always pulled on her adorable cleats and went back for more. And she always had a look of pride on her face after she gave it her all.
5. You can miss the window of opportunity in sports after all. We've been hearing it for years- if you want them to succeed, you have to start them early. Well, it turns out they might have been right. Adam was at least two years behind some of his teammates. Leah was one of the youngest players on her team, and one of the least experienced. So she spent a lot of time on the sidelines, learning about the game and trying to show the coach she wanted to play. But I think we learned that neither of them loves the sport so much that they want to put in the effort to make up for lost time. And that's okay too.
6. Sports are not so important that they will interfere with greater good things. We don't play sports on Sundays- the Sabbath day is an entire day long, not just the length of the church meeting. We won't sacrifice time as a family- we had a family trip to Nauvoo scheduled long before we knew the soccer schedule, and the kids ended up missing their first games because of it. That made for several lively conversations in our house, but at the end of it all, the kids decided that they wanted to go to Nauvoo.
Jason and I had a long talk and walk one night in which we laughed about the fact that the apples have not fallen far from the tree. In our family and in our genes, academics come first, music comes second, and athletics... a distant third. Of course we'll support our kids in any efforts they want to make in sports, but only after the more important school work and music has been fulfilled. And, we're so sorry children, but athletic prowess doesn't exactly run in our family...
7. A good team could make a great season. Neither of the kids really had that this time around, but I could see how a tight-knit group of players could really become your best friends as the years go by.
8. Soccer starts at a horrible time of year. We simultaneously started juggling soccer, back to school schedules and homework, band and orchestra, piano lessons, scouting for Adam and boy, was I glad to see the soccer season come to an end! And it was a very chilly one, at that. We started out with beautiful 70 degree days and ended with cancelled games and rainstorms and layers of clothes and leaves on the fields.
9. And lest it all seem negative, I also have to say that while it wasn't exactly fun, it was a delight to see these two use their bodies so well. To run and to kick and to focus and try so hard to do their best. They're healthy, they're dedicated, and although soccer may not have been the biggest hit yet, they're both definitely headed toward great things!
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