Back in Season

Scoobs started another soccer season a couple weeks back & I am back in my comfort zone of soccer mom.  Some games he is a bump on a log, like last week when my mom, dad & brother came...taking his turn in goal {which he loves} & being silly with his friends.  And other weeks he's on fire, like this week, when it was just me, Scot & the Lady in attendance.  I love watching his interpretation of the game, it is almost like I can read the marque of thoughts going through his head...calculating where he should be & when.  He has one little buddy on the team that he's played with before & when they get the chance to play together, they will actually pass the ball down the field.

This last Saturday, he scored 5 goals & the other team was actually cheering against him.  I could hear parent's yelling, 'stop him!' to their kids & I have to say it kind of made me smile...until they started grabbing his jersey & pushing him over.  Really.

And I get that sometimes the goal-scoring kid is annoying...and maybe their parents are even more annoying? So on those goal scoring games, I struggle to balance how much I cheer for him.  Sounds dumb, right?  But it's not like I want to jump out of my chair & hoot & holler at every goal...that's obnoxious.  But at the same time, the kid is 5 & he's playing hard & having fun, so why not be happy for him?

Anyway, I wasn't quite sure they were actually pushing him.  He kept falling & I could tell he was ticked about it, but I was distracted with the Lady & thought maybe it was my crazy pregnant hormones.  So I kept my mouth shut & let it play out.  But then another dad on our team finally yelled, 'oh c'mon ref you GOTTA call that!' as Scoobs landed in a heap just feet from the goal.  As the other team cheered that he 'fell.'  I would probably fall too, if my jersey was grabbed.  You should know that Scot is coaching on the field, so he can't actually yell at the ref...and that is usually my job when I'm not busy being pregnant.  And so the game ended with a penalty kick, that Scoobs didn't even want to take because he was crying over being manhandled.

I admit at first, I was a little peeved.  According to Scoobs, the kid was grabbing his jersey & in the process actually grabbed & pinched his back & that was what he was crying about.  We have a little rule at our house that their is no crying on the soccer field & so when Scot reminded him to either play, or sit out, he composed himself, but by then the game was over.  There was half a minute where I wanted to go have a word with the mom that was yelling so fiercely against him.  Like really?

There have been games where Scoobs has been on the other end...getting his butt kicked.  But my mom & I actually started cheering for the girl doing the butt kicking because she was playing awesome & that is fun.  We were laughing at how good she was.  Scoobs couldn't get anything past her & she completely shut him out...again & again & again.  Frankly, I was glad she kicked his butt.  It made him work a little harder & know what it felt like to lose.  He still talks about her & laughs about how she kicked his butt.

Instead of sharing my two cents, I kept my mouth shut in regards to the other parents...but I did let Scoobs know that if that happens again, he has every right to stand up, look that kid in the face & tell him to knock it off...and then go score on him again.

{post edit}: You should know, that I really hesitated in posting this.  I re-wrote it in a generic form, giving you a nondescript account of how I was grateful for him to have the opportunity to learn good life lessons via soccer...which is true.  I'm glad he's had both experiences, I just prefer the 'real' account better than the 'generic' & figured you would too.  So hopefully you find the humor...