A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON SPORTS

I am not really an athletic person. I enjoy sports enough to watch most, but am really in it for the beer and comraderie. I've always surrounded myself with the jock-types. I married a former quarterback for goodness sakes. I enjoy sharing in the sporty experiences with Husband and friends, but beyond that, I'm generally laid back on the topic - particularly when it comes to youth sports.

I've always considered myself as the mom who's more into the 'having fun' necessity and less about mastering the skills and the pressure that always seems to come with team sports. I've harped this concern to dear Husband more times that I can count, warning him of the adverse side of premature enrollments and setting standards too high to be realistic.

On the advice of Daughter's preschool teacher, we enrolled Daughter into a park & recreation's pee-wee indoor soccer team to help her burn energy and participate in something new. Give her a new activity to learn and work on her social interactions. Husband, especially, was syked to get his little girl into athletics.

You can imagine my surprise when we met the mild-manner coach who barely spoke past a whisper. A slightly overweight, shy, individual who looked both overwhelmed and intimidated by a group of 3 year olds. Not a good sign. These kids ate him alive. They literally ran circles around him and his 7-month pregnant wife. This was the first team sport experience my daughter was going to have?

Husband and I tried to stay positive and keep an open mind, but as the practice progressed we kept exchanging glances as the coaches own children were running amok in the practice. These were coaches? These are the people our kids are supposed to look up to and learn from? They couldn't keep the teams attention long enough to even introduce themselves, let along explain a skill. How were the kids going to learn anything about soccer? What about the foundation of the rules and the fundamental respect for your coach? How are we supposed to sit on the sidelines and watch this train wreck unfold? Should we do something? Say something? Clearly, someone needs to step in and take some control.

Truth be told, neither Husband nor I volunteered to be coaches. Husbands fire schedule is too inconsistent to plan a weekly practice and game schedule. I'm intimidated by not knowing the rules and skills of a sport like soccer. After today, I realized, I don't need any.

Throughout the practice, I stood aside and helped bounce the kids back into the practice area, offering the missing cheer and encouragement necessary to keep the kids engaged. Husband is assuring me that at this age and stage of development really IS about leaving the practice having had a good time. Daughter is excited to return next week and that is what's ultimately important.

I, on the other hand, will be volunteering for future teams. I could not do worse.