Soccer

Every year or so I get the itch to put my kid(s) in soccer. It just seems like the right thing to do. Or maybe just the thing to do. Right or wrong. It’s a thing. And I get all excited and register a kid or two. Buy all the necessary gear. Socks. Shoes. Shin guards. Soccer ball. I/we start out strong. Enthusiastic! We are going to do soccer. This is our thing.

And then reality hits. Practice multiple times a week. Putting on and off the ridiculously difficult soccer socks and shin guards. All those laces to tie. Finding and filling water bottles. Searching for soccer balls. Saturday morning games. MORNING GAMES. As in multiple games before noon because multiple kids means multiple teams. Add in the fact that I’m doing 90% of this solo with extra (non-soccer playing and not excited) kids in tow. And well I start to doubt that this is our thing. It’s a whole thing. But maybe just not OUR thing. 

Just tonight during the first five minutes of practice I was ready to call it quits. But I didn’t because if there is one thing having four kids has taught me it’s this: sometimes you just have to laugh when you want to cry and quit. Laugh and keep going.  

We had of course rolled up to the soccer field  a minute or two late. And the street was already lined with vehicles so I parked (backwards) a mile away from our practice field. Ok not really a mile. But not close either. Even before I had the van completely parked I told the girls to hop out and run to practice. I sent Isaiah with them while I worked on unloading the van. Because a one hour practice requires no less than one stroller, two chairs, a blanket, a bag of snacks and a bag of toys. 

It quickly became apparent that Levi was NOT going to be able to control himself so he was put back in the van for some time to regroup. No big deal. This I could handle. As Levi throws his fits in the safety of the van I work on gathering our stuff. But of course this is when Hannah decides she must go potty NOW! And the only bathroom...a port-o-potty is on the opposite side of the field. Levi is not calmed down yet so I holler for Isaiah to come back to the van to supervise timeout while I take Hannah potty. I quickly run across the field with Hannah to the potty and then return to the van. Upon my return I discover Levi has calmed himself down. And had an accident inside the van. So I start the changing and baby-wipe bath process. 

All of this within 5 minutes of arriving at soccer practice. 

Spring soccer season is now over. And while it was a lot of work. Incidents like I just described were the normal all season long. It was also also a good season. And not just because the Sting Rays won more games than they lost. It was a good season because my girls learned a few soccer skills and a lot about teamwork. They learned sportsmanship. And trying their best. And we did all of this while surrounded by church friends. Our own little community. We cheered on each other’s kids together. We carpooled. We passed around snacks and babies. We took turns taking the younger siblings to the playground. We talked and laughed and shared life together. All at the soccer field. Maybe soccer is our thing. Or at least it was our thing for a time.