![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
It's official. I will be the new soccer coach for Max's team in the spring. His coaches last season were these awful men who would scream at a bunch of six-year-olds about how badly they were playing. It made me want to follow them to their cars and beat them to death with lead pipes. I'm certain it had to do with their complex about...ahem...well, you know. So I bitched. Then I decided that I would do more than just bitch. I decided that I would be the most double damn fun soccer coach ever!! I decided that I'd run this little wolf pack of kids around the field and laugh and play until it was time to drink juice and eat snacks! I decided that I would wear funny hats and buy myself a whistle! The name of the game will be F-U-N...and the guys with the complex about the size of their....er...well....they can just sit on the sidelines grumbling while I do my "Go Team" dance!!! So that's what I'm doing in the spring. I am still an activist. In my own small way. : )
Tags:
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
From:
Way To Go!
From:
Re: Way To Go!
From:
Finally, a cool soccer mom.
From:
Now, that sounds like fun!!
From:
no subject
I never was any good at it, not like our highschool 'stars' who managed to cover half the field & score without even once losing the ball, but it's great fun anyway. And I think you're on the right track - our karate instructors who teach the kids always say you can't use the traditional drill methods on kids; you have to teach them in a playful manner, make it enjoyable for them. After all, it's a game, right?
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
you will have a lovely time.
go team go!
From:
no subject
I have memories from when I was a wee player of fat dutch / english men standing on the sidelines and screaming at their children to be worldbeaters. My father was both a professional soccer player and coach yet he never planted his expectations on me the way some parents seem unable to prevent themselves from doing on the sidelines.
F-U-N is crucial. Enjoy. (And...I'm lookin' forward to future posts on the pros and cons of your teams sweeper system....!!!!!)
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
YAY 4 CATE!
I'm reminded once again, though I often think of it - of something I saw a few years ago:
While jogging around a local park one day, I happened by a young executive type male who was teaching two little boys how to play baseball:
"? NO! - NO! DAVID! DON'T STAND THAT WAY! DIDN?T YOU WATCH ME?? EITHER YOU GUYS PAY ATTENTION AND SHOW SOME ENTHUSIASM OR WE?LL JUST GO HOME RIGHT NOW!?
Each time I went around the field, it was the same sort of things from the "coach" while the boys looked more and more miserable. The last time I saw them, they were leaving the field - the guy still ranting and the two kids following behind with tears running down their cheeks...
About a week later - same place - I saw a young woman playing with 3 kids; 2 boys and a girl. They had a bat and ball and some gloves, so I guess they were playing a baseball game of some sort, but I didn't see very many hits or catches in the times I jogged past...mostly misses in fact. But unlike the group I?d seen the week previously, there were no stern criticisms or harsh words or miserable faces. Instead there were smiles and giggles and laughter! They loved what they were doing. They were having FUN!
I wished that the two different versions of the events I?d witnessed had been captured on film or tape and made into a mini-documentary and shown on national TV. It would say it all far as I?m concerned.
Somewhat apropos, I just now received this in an email from a friend:
MUD PUDDLES AND DANDELIONS
When I look at a patch of dandelions, I see a bunch of weeds that are going take over my yard. My kids see flowers for Mom and blowing white fluff you can wish on.
When I look at an old drunk and he smiles at me, I see a smelly, dirty person who probably wants money and I look away. My kids see someone smiling at them and they smile back.
When I hear music I love, I know I can't carry a tune and don't have much rhythm so I sit self-consciously and listen. My kids feel the beat and move to it. They sing out the words. If they don't know them, they make up their own.
When I feel wind on my face, I brace myself against it. I feel it messing up my hair and pulling me back when I walk. My kids close their eyes, spread their arms and fly with it, until they fall to the ground laughing.
When I pray, I say thee and thou and grant me this, give those that. My kids say, "Hi God!Thanks for my toys and my friends. Please keep the bad dreams away tonight. Sorry, I don't want to go to Heaven yet. I would miss my Mommy and Daddy."
When I see a mud puddle I step around it. I see muddy shoes and dirty carpets. My kids sit in it. They see dams to build, rivers to cross and worms to play with.
I wonder if we are given kids to teach or to learn from? Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.
I wish you BIG MUD PUDDLES and SUNNY YELLOW DANDELIONS
So Hurrah for you Cate!...and, maybe someone will get a few film clips of you and your team?
From:
Re: YAY 4 CATE!
From:
Re: YAY 4 CATE!
From:
no subject
From:
Right on, CC!!!!!!!
From:
GO GIRL!