Rite of Passage

It was inevitable. If not this year, the next.

John did it, I did it, and now it's Andrew's turn. His turn to don his mini shin guards (so stinkin' cute!) and cleats. His turn to follow the pack of kids around and occasionally catch sight of the ball.
I had great expectations. I mean, I've heard of John's amazing athletic feats on the soccer field. And I wasn't so bad myself. If you don't count the first year I played and held hands with my best friend any time we were in together.

I pictured Andrew outrunning the rest of the pack, scoring a goal or two, with his adoring fans cheering on the sideline.

The first practice went pretty well and by the end of it, Andrew wasn't using his hands any more. The coach threatened push ups for anyone caught touching the ball with his hands. I don't know if Andrew had a clue what push ups are, but he stopped using his hands. Andrew was enjoying running and kicking the ball into the goal even more than I thought he would.

Toward the end of practice, the coach called all 5 team members together and explained that their uniforms were green and that they needed to come up with a team name. He asked, "What is green?" Nobody was answering, so he said, "Andrew?" Andrew piped up, "Grass!" Sure enough, grass is green, but for some reason the coach liked Leapfrogs and The Green Giants better.

Then they had a vote. Andrew voted for Leapfrogs, another kid voted for the Green Giants and two kids voted for their recommendations, respectively. That left Jake, the tie-braker. The coach asked Jake what he thought. Shoulder shrug. After a little pressure to pick one, he went with the Green Giants, so that's what we cheer for at the games.

Based on the practices, I figured the first game would be one of glory for my boy. But, it wasn't quite what I pictured. First, I got the game time wrong. Instead of 10:45, I thought the game started at 10:00 (ALL the remaining games start at 10). Not great to have all three little ones to a soccer game 45 minutes early. I think Andrew was done before the game started. Second, only three kids play on each side, so two sit out. Andrew did not like being told to sit down when the game was starting. Third, Andrew expected that everyone else should stop and move out of his way so he could get a turn at kicking the ball. He spent the game crying, screaming, throwing a fit because it just wasn't going his way.

But he loved the treat at the end of the game. And the "parent tunnel" he got to run through.

As we were walking to the car he remarked, "I don't want those blue boys to come next time." The other team had been wearing blue.

Last Saturday was his third game. And what an improvement. No crying or screaming or fit-throwing. Hooray! Granted, he really doesn't get the game yet. He seems to think he's running in the back of a line. He lets everybody and the ball run past before he falls into line. And then he seemed to be walking a lot.

Unfortunately on Saturday, my behavior needed improvement. Nothing major. I just felt like I needed to "instruct" my four-year-old-first-time-soccer-player from the sideline because he wasn't Pele by his third game. "Run fast!" "Get the ball, Andrew!" "Go get it with your feet!" were some of the "instructions" I called out to him.

As I look back, I might as well have been calling out to him "You're too slow!" "You aren't doing what you are supposed to!" But no more. He is four. And soccer is for fun. And I want Andrew to think that it doesn't get any better than him. If we want to practice at home, for fun, fine. But all he is going to hear from me at the game is "Great job!" and "You are awesome!!"

Here is Andrew warming up at his first game. He has to get the ball just right. Look at how great he knows he is!! And the second clip is from last Saturday. If you keep watching you can see him wait for everyone to run by before he follows.

Natalie somehow connived a chair just her size from somebody from the other team. She also managed to keep a steady stream of orange wedges coming from a random person. This girl has skills.