There Was a Little Crying

I'm not going to lie to ya. The soccer adventure was not what I had envisioned. I thought there would be little boys running around after a ball. I expected some level of confusion, but I generally assumed that the boys would understand that they needed to listen to the coach and kick the ball. Mostly there was a bunch of balls, a bunch of boys, and a little crying.


Also, my speedy Coop was slower than molasses. If he was asked to run and kick the ball he would literally walk so slow that he could easily have stopped all together and no one would have been the wiser. Here is what I have learned about soccer for 3 & 4 year olds:


1. Administer treats liberally -- before, during, and after. Naturally, it's all about the treats.
2. The parent/grandparent/aunt/uncle/coach/brother/sister to player ratio is way out of whack. About 2.7 adults to every child.
3. Soccer "games" are really just photo opportunities for parents to pretend they have an athlete.
4. Age -- at this age -- is irrelevant. I couldn't tell the 3s from the 4s. A kid may be tall, but he can still have a temper tantrum. Conversely, a kid can be itty-bitty, but have a killer banana kick.
5. I can't wait until next Saturday!

In closing, let me mention that Mason stood behind the goal for much of the practice. He might be a great goalie someday. And he is the only one I saw take a drink of water the entire session.

Oh wait, and the funniest thing Cooper said was when his coach was trying to explain a drill in which they would pass a ball to a pretend teammate (a jersey on the ground) then pick up the jersey and give it to the coach. The coach chose to explain that the drill was like when you have dirty laundry on the floor of your room and your mom tells you to pick it up. Cooper looked right at the coach and said, "I don't have dirty laundry."