So Daven started soccer this past week. This is the first time I've signed him up to be on a team. Last year he did these little soccer clinics. He loved those. They just practice soccer skills like dribbling and do fun drills. But he was getting kind of bored with the clinics, so I thought it would be fun to have him be on a team and actually get to play games. I have to say it has been a learning experience for me, too.
The season officially began 2 Saturday's ago. I dressed Daven in his team shirt. But, his black shorts were dirty. (There is no requirement for the shorts) I put him in these red ones. Daven could have cared less what he looked like. But, he was the ONLY and I mean ONLY child in red shorts. I, of course, felt bad for him and started to re-live my childhood years, thinking, I would have felt bad if I showed up for my soccer game and I was the only one wearing red shorts. I would have been embarrased & suffered a major blow to my confidence I'm sure. I decided that the next week I would make sure that he was dressed in BLACK shorts. What was I thinking?
Here is Daven with his coach. Mike said he would be interested in being an assistant coach. But, I guess they didn't have enough coaches. Mike gets to be Daven's coach now. I have to say, he is wonderful with the kids. They all love him. There are 5 kids on the team. He is so good with them. Logan, as you can tell, thinks he is part of the team. We had to break the sad news that he wasn't going to get a blue shirt. We said you have to be three. He woke up last week one morning and said, "mom, I'm four now." I think he just wanted to be able to play soccer. He will be soon enough.
So, here is the story of the game. Daven was just having fun. He was not interested in the game at all, or the concept. Even though we had gone over what to do during the week. He would kick the ball when he was told, but other than that, he was just running around being silly. Their team is the Tigers - Daven kept running up to the other team and saying, "ROAR!" He would then proceed to run around the field in a silly manner by over-exxagerating his arms, almost like he was dancing and running at the same time. Did I mention he wasn't into the game? No, he was far more interested in the fact that him and MacKenzie had twinner shin guards.
Oh, yes, it was hillarious. But I couldn't help but feel a little blow to my own expectations. I thought, maybe soccer is not his thing. I kept yelling encouraging things from the side-line. But, you know, I think as mom, I just want my child to do well. It wasn't like I wanted him to be the best one on the team. But, I wanted him to at least get in there. I imagined everyone on the sidelines was thinking, Mike and Rickie, what kind of parents are they? Their child is being so silly. Look at him "ROAR" at the other players. Can you believe I was thinking that? How terrible of me.
Of course, I didn't tell Daven that. We just went over what to do at a game and told him what an awesome kicker he was. We tried to help him know what to do the next time.
But, then after the game I was talking to my friend Brenna and she made me feel better. She's like, it just takes them a long time to get the hang of it. She told me stories of kids that didn't ever want to play that were on Kyla's team. And, of a boy that "skipped" to the ball all the time. I just laughed. Then, I realized, that even though I didn't care if my child was the star player, my expectations were WAY too high. It should be all about having fun at this point and making him confident in himself so that he would want to keep trying.
So, I just decided to relax and let Daven have fun. That was the most important thing at this age, right?
Here is Daven on week two. Notice the BLACK shorts. I wasn't expecting anything. But, Daven totally started to get the hang of it. It was so fun to watch. He got in there, watched the ball, took the ball away from the other kids. Then, he started dribbling the ball. He is a good dribbler and dribbled it then kicked it in the goal 3 times. He was doing so good.
Just thought I would share my learning experience these past few weeks.
5 comments:
So cute. I love when they start playing sports. I think my brother was the same way when he was that age. He was more interested in the treat at the end of the game than in the actual game.
He got a hang of it quickly! Hayden tried 3 seasons of soccer, I kept thinking he'll get it but no, he preferred to run around not looking where he was going, staring at dogs on the sidelines... You just never know what they're going to do. I always wanted my kids to play soccer, I played through my Senior year in high school and loved it. We might try again next year but right now he's in gymnastics and is awesome and just started T-ball and he loves it! I have alsys thought T-ball/Baseball might be his thing, we'll see. The pictures are super cute!
OH. MY. GOODNESS. It is as if I wrote this post - only insert the word baseball in place of soccer. We had this SAME experience with Tyler this week with baseball. I guess I went into it thinking he'd be this pro or something. I don't know what I was thinking. Turns out, he wasn't the pro I thought and he was more interested in playing with the dirt on the field than actually watching for the ball to come his way. I was a little frustrated needless to say. Thanks for putting things into perspective for me and for making me feel like I'm not the only mom who has higher expectations than she should. Your little man Daven sure is handsome!! :)
I love how he has his foot on the ball in every picture. He looks super tough to me!
You should talk to Anna about when her kids started soccer. You would have lots in common! Your kids are so cute and I'm soooo excited to see how big they are. I plan on coming down that way in the next couple of months!
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