Spring/Fall Soccer 2017

I'm combining both Spring and Fall Soccer to keep this in one post, but wanted to explain that, because you will see boys in different uniforms.  

Against my better judgment, Bo has been turned loose on the soccer field.  He was not ready, and both The Coach and I are mostly against having kids as young as Bo playing team sports.  

BUT.  

There it is, the BUT.  There's always a BUT.

Let me quickly remind you that The Coach is the Director of Parks and Recreation.  This means all the city youth sports programs belong to him.  Soccer is a new sport for the city, and not a very popular one, so it's a small program.  In order to have enough kids to have a team in Bo's age category, Bo had to play.  

Me:  "No."

The Coach:  "I need him.  It will be FINE."

It was mostly fine.  He didn't cry like Jack used to, at least.  But he was totally clueless.  No matter.  No harm was done.

Bo and his team from fall soccer.  It just ended last week.  This season was MUCH better for him than the Spring season.  He is getting the hang of it.  I would like to say that soccer isn't his thing, but I remember saying that about Jack and he's turned out to be an incredibly talented soccer player.  So I think it's too early to judge what will happen in the future.  

 Jack is a complete blur in every picture from the fall season.  He has graduated to the bigger soccer field and he runs very fast.  He is also an amazing soccer player.  BUT.

There it is again.  The BUT.

He lacks self-control on the field.  He gets upset very easily.  He cries ALL THE TIME.  Folks, he is 9 years old, he is TOO OLD to be crying and throwing fits on the soccer field.  He has a terrible temper, he gets angry (with himself only, he does not get angry with other players or his coach) and has to be taken from the game until he gets control of himself.  The Coach and I are hopeful that with good coaching and us doing our part, that he will outgrow it, or fix it himself.  If he does not, he will not be able to play as he gets older.  During the spring season, it was horrible.  We agreed after the season was over, we would give him "one more chance" to get himself together out there or he wouldn't be allowed to play anymore.  While the fall season was not perfect, he still cried two or three times, he did better than the Spring season.  We are hoping for more improvement.  One thing is for certain, it will be sad if he can't control himself... he's got an amazing gift on the field.  It would be very disappointing if his less than charming personality gets the best of him and prevents him from playing.  And to be clear, he's not a whiny crybaby.  He's not crying because he's tired, hot, or doesn't want to be out there.  He gets angry when he messes up.  And he starts to cry because he is angry.  As long as you leave him alone while he's crying, he plays through it and is fine in a few minutes.  However, if anybody says anything to him, especially me or The Coach, while he is crying, he loses complete control and has to be removed from the game.  During the fall, he did MUCH better.  If I, his Coach, or The Coach, said "SHAKE IT OFF, JACK", he would take a few deep breaths and shake it off.  His last game of the season was the best.  He let a ball slip past him and the other boy scored.  He was very upset but still holding it together by a thread when BAM!  He took a ball to the face, really hard.  He wears sports goggles because he's blind as a bat, so it hurt really bad.  He collapsed, and starting crying.  He looked at me as if to say "please help me, I'm about to lose it", so I told him over and over again to take a deep breath, shake it off.  IT IS OK.

And he made it through it.  He wanted to make it through it, he hates losing control like that. 

Maybe it will be ok as he gets older and mature enough to understand how to get through it.  I hope so.  

   

 Bo, spring soccer.

 You may be thinking, "WOW, look at that hair!".  Yes, it's long.  Very long.  He likes it long, and as I've mentioned in older posts, it's not a battle I'm willing to fight. He washes it and combs it himself in the shower, it looks neat most days, so it's whatever to me.  It's his hair, I don't care how he wears it as long as it's clean.  

 Justice is in this picture.  He is old enough and experienced enough to be a referee now.  This was the one and only game he refereed of Jack's, before Joe had to move Justice to a team that Jack was NOT on.  Referring back to Jack's lack of self-control, he and Justice fought constantly on the field.  All Jack's fault, not Justice's.  As a ref to young kids, it's the ref's responsibility to teach while they are on the field.  Unless you are the referee's younger brother who doesn't want to hear **** coming out of his older brother's mouth. 

The kids official soccer pictures were very cute.   This one is fall.

Spring.