Sweet Victory
Brianna has loved soccer since Kindergarten. The kid would be running down the field with a gigantic grin on her face. When she got a little older and played mostly defense, she would bounce up and down as she waited for the ball to come to her. She would play at recess. She would play spring, summer, or fall. She always wanted me to sign her up. She just loved to play.
Two weeks ago she said to me...Mom, I think maybe I should take a break from soccer. This really made me sad. What happened that a kid that loved soccer so much would want to take a break...in the middle of summer league? Sadly I think I know all too well.
The past 2.5-3 years things have gotten more complicated and have influenced her love of the game. Traveling soccer.
Three years ago I would never even have thought of it, but her coach at the time kept saying...you are going to have her try out for travel, right? She wasn't/isn't a super aggressive girl. She played mostly defense and mid-field. She only got maybe one or two goals a season. She wasn't an obviously stellar player. So we went into it thinking if she makes it, she makes it. If not, she'll play rec. There weren't that many girls that tried out that year...probably too many parents choked on the $200.00 you had to put up front(that would be refunded if your kid didn't make it). She made the team.
That team killed just about everyone they played. Most of those girls were stellar athletes whose older siblings all played travel soccer. Most of the parents and kids knew each other and had played with each other. Brianna was one of their weaker players. She didn't make that team the next year.
I was okay with her not making it, but quite irked at the coach. He was trying to be nice, but told us to have her try-out for a different league so she could be with her friends. Then went on about how his older boys just wanted to play with their friends. Really it was Shawn and I weren't friends with the other parents...we didn't take it as seriously as they did. He had coach's picks and he picked his friends' kids. He should've just left it at - I'm sorry Brianna didn't make the team.
So, Brianna made the "B" team last year. She didn't quite get the whole try-out thing and kept asking me why she wasn't on the other team. But she/we did have a good year. The parents were more our speed. They were mostly parents whose kids were the oldest and didn't take the games quite so seriously. There was a small core of kids that went to school together, but there were more kids that didn't. I tried to prepare Brianna for a season where they didn't win as much. They kicked butt and won almost every game. They even ended their first competitive season in first place.
Try-outs came around again. Due to the politics of soccer, the A and B teams stayed pretty much the same. The only thing was the girl that Brianna most connected with on the team didn't make it(she dropped down to the C team). That was hard on Brianna. Then came winter and spring leagues. Nobody was really that committed and due to our skating schedule, we had a tough time making the practices and games(they were exactly the same time as skating). So they lost - almost every game...there were a couple of ties.
Then there was the decision to move up...from C3 to C2. It was a good decision, because the top teams in our fall league moved up with us. We would be killing teams in the C3. This league is very competitive. No one team is really hands down winning. There are lots of ties and 1 goal wins. This tells me that we are in the right league.
The bad news is that things are not going our way. We have tied twice and lost twice. Both losses were by 1 goal. They were both heartbreakers, because our girls worked so hard, but things were just not going our way. Goals that should've gone in were miraculously being saved by the goalie. The girls are really discouraged.
They had a tournament this weekend and played great. They handily won all 4 games...6-0, 5-0, 5-0, and 4-0 (the last game was called due to Thunderstorms and a tornado watch). This was the confidence boost they needed. The best part is seeing my daughter in love with soccer again.
It probably can't go back to the carefree days of the rec league for her. Soccer has always been her thing, the thing that brought her joy. Maybe that is just part of growing up. Things that are innocent get complicated. Struggles lead to appreciation. Sometimes hard work isn't enough.
Today all I know is Victory is Sweet!
Two weeks ago she said to me...Mom, I think maybe I should take a break from soccer. This really made me sad. What happened that a kid that loved soccer so much would want to take a break...in the middle of summer league? Sadly I think I know all too well.
The past 2.5-3 years things have gotten more complicated and have influenced her love of the game. Traveling soccer.
Three years ago I would never even have thought of it, but her coach at the time kept saying...you are going to have her try out for travel, right? She wasn't/isn't a super aggressive girl. She played mostly defense and mid-field. She only got maybe one or two goals a season. She wasn't an obviously stellar player. So we went into it thinking if she makes it, she makes it. If not, she'll play rec. There weren't that many girls that tried out that year...probably too many parents choked on the $200.00 you had to put up front(that would be refunded if your kid didn't make it). She made the team.
That team killed just about everyone they played. Most of those girls were stellar athletes whose older siblings all played travel soccer. Most of the parents and kids knew each other and had played with each other. Brianna was one of their weaker players. She didn't make that team the next year.
I was okay with her not making it, but quite irked at the coach. He was trying to be nice, but told us to have her try-out for a different league so she could be with her friends. Then went on about how his older boys just wanted to play with their friends. Really it was Shawn and I weren't friends with the other parents...we didn't take it as seriously as they did. He had coach's picks and he picked his friends' kids. He should've just left it at - I'm sorry Brianna didn't make the team.
So, Brianna made the "B" team last year. She didn't quite get the whole try-out thing and kept asking me why she wasn't on the other team. But she/we did have a good year. The parents were more our speed. They were mostly parents whose kids were the oldest and didn't take the games quite so seriously. There was a small core of kids that went to school together, but there were more kids that didn't. I tried to prepare Brianna for a season where they didn't win as much. They kicked butt and won almost every game. They even ended their first competitive season in first place.
Try-outs came around again. Due to the politics of soccer, the A and B teams stayed pretty much the same. The only thing was the girl that Brianna most connected with on the team didn't make it(she dropped down to the C team). That was hard on Brianna. Then came winter and spring leagues. Nobody was really that committed and due to our skating schedule, we had a tough time making the practices and games(they were exactly the same time as skating). So they lost - almost every game...there were a couple of ties.
Then there was the decision to move up...from C3 to C2. It was a good decision, because the top teams in our fall league moved up with us. We would be killing teams in the C3. This league is very competitive. No one team is really hands down winning. There are lots of ties and 1 goal wins. This tells me that we are in the right league.
The bad news is that things are not going our way. We have tied twice and lost twice. Both losses were by 1 goal. They were both heartbreakers, because our girls worked so hard, but things were just not going our way. Goals that should've gone in were miraculously being saved by the goalie. The girls are really discouraged.
They had a tournament this weekend and played great. They handily won all 4 games...6-0, 5-0, 5-0, and 4-0 (the last game was called due to Thunderstorms and a tornado watch). This was the confidence boost they needed. The best part is seeing my daughter in love with soccer again.
It probably can't go back to the carefree days of the rec league for her. Soccer has always been her thing, the thing that brought her joy. Maybe that is just part of growing up. Things that are innocent get complicated. Struggles lead to appreciation. Sometimes hard work isn't enough.
Today all I know is Victory is Sweet!
posted by Renee @ 10:03 PM
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