Katie just finished her spring soccer season. She has played before but it has been a couple of seasons. What she lacks in skill, she makes up for in scrappiness! She is quite the little speedster. It was amazing to watch her little legs move her across the field. It was like her legs went twice as fast as the players around her. And they very well could have because she is about half the size of some of the other players. She is picking up the skills of the sport and even though she never made a goal she made some great passes and was a fantastic defender.
Even though she played in a rec league, her team was quite competitive. This was in part because of their coach. He was such a great coach but he sure liked to win. It was kind of entertaining to watch him on the sidelines. It was like you could physically see the battle within himself of trying to balance the strong desire to win and the delicate egos of 8 and 9 year old girls. While on the sidelines the girls who weren't in the game, would pepper him with questions like "Did you notice my new haircut? or Do you want to see our secret handshake? or Watch me do this handstand!" He would try to validate them but let's be honest what 30+ man notices even when his own wife gets a haircut, let alone one of 10 girls on his soccer team?!? He was constantly trying to redirect their focus back to the game. And being a person who is a professional redirector of children's attention, it made me smile to watch.
My very favorite of these moments was after the game. The coach would gather all the girls around and they would have a little breakdown/debrief of the game. Coach would ask things like "So what went well during the game?" or "What do you like about soccer?" Without fail some girl would pull the conversation off topic and soon they were talking everything but soccer. It was hilarous to watch the coach's face. It went something like this:
But he really was a great coach and we would request him again for a great non-competitive winning season!
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3 comments:
I would love to see Katies feet go twice as fast as everyone elses! Go Soccer!!! Let her be competitive, I bet she would rock it!!
I would love to see Katies feet go twice as fast as everyone elses! Go Soccer!!! Let her be competitive, I bet she would rock it!!
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Katie!
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