I would like to say it was at Delaneys 1st soccer game but I would be lying.
No, I take it back. There was suspense, excitement and scores. Just not in the way you might be thinking.
How to begin the tale of this thrilling day......
There are 6 players on our U5 team. Only 4 showed. Add in that we only had one real practice and this already was not starting out well for us.
One little boy who played last year had no clue how to touch his foot to the ball! I don't believe he did it once during the whole game. And honestly, I don't think the child would know how to run even if his pants were on fire!
One girl obviously did NOT want to be there in any way, shape or form. And when you asked if she was excited or having fun she would scowl at you and tell you NO!
One child was our best player. Our one and only hope. And even she was massacred in this game cause one can not compete against a team of 3 on the field! She left mid game with a blister on her foot. And there also went our last hope for a score!
And then there was Delaney. She smiled. She ran. But she never touched the ball either. And seemed much more worried about if the concession stand was serving hot chocolate with mini marshmallows or not!
Todd, who is the coach, and myself kept yelling 'Get the ball!.....Take the ball!" But then it dawned on me at some point during the game that I don't think they understood what that meant!
We were in trouble. Bad, bad trouble. And the other team obviously had all past soccer players. They destroyed us. Crushed us in the dirt with their little size 11 toddler cleats! And what made it worse was that the parents on the other team had no sympathy. At some point in time, one would think that getting #18 goal on a team that has no defense......or offense for that matter.......or knowledge remotely able to let them be able to play soccer ..........was not really worth the scream, jumping and cheer. After a while it was almost mean! And with each goal there was complete silence from our side. The parents hung their head and tried to pretend they didn't notice their child on the field picking the grass blades! As the game went on, it became really hard for Todd and I to even sound encouraging.
I lost track of the score. I gave up somewhere around 1-15.
And let me say that for a person who has major competitive qualities, this was harder on me than it obviously was on the kids. I could feel the bursting coming in my chest and wanting to explode out my mouth but I held it in. These were just babies, I kept saying over and over. And, after all......it is all about the fun of the game.
(Yeah. Right!)
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