Sunday, May 6, 2018

Just another Sunday

First, an observation from yesterday, where I went to three youth soccer games. . . Usually most of the teams we play are pretty well intentioned. Yesterday was a crazy day, full of kids following us through the parking lot & taunting the players (some of the things were saying . . . ), flipping off adults, a fist fight broke out, parents got ejected, a coach got ejected, and. . .while Nick was playing goalie, a player intentionally tackled him. Nick was injured & got carried off, and the offending player said he wished he broke his arm. I really feel sad that parents & coaches are not doing their part to teach sportsmanship & appropriate play. Our kids don't play for "the best" soccer club, but the definitely play for a club that focuses on player development & skills  . . . not how to foul other people. If a coach hears a kid trash talking, he will immediately pull them from the game. As it should be. Parents are also only allowed to cheer on the players.

Today is one more soccer game, but it's another nearby team. So, should be minimal drama. Also, this is soccer for 11 & 12 year olds. . . Please get a grip, adults.

Vent over. :-)

I need to squeeze a ton into my day today, as I'm leaving for the airport around 5 pm for a flight to London. I'm trying to treat the flight as a "fun" event, even though we all know it's not so much. But, I lucked into a business class flight both ways, and a business class flight does have great movie options & typically nice wine & a meal. Bright side.

Here's my plan for the day:


  1. Absolutely must work out before sitting on a super long plane ride. 
  2. Yoga would also be a bonus - to stretch out
  3. Clean the house
  4. Take Nick to soccer
  5. Finish packing
  6. Help Nick finish packing for science camp
  7. Return overdue library books
  8. Mail my mom's mother's day card
  9. Help M with a meal plan
  10. Laundry. Uniforms. So. many. uniforms!
  11. Review the plan for the week with M & the kids
Any youth sports stories? How is your weekend going?

4 comments:

  1. Regarding your soccer experience: That seems to be the situation in youth organized sports all over. Our local youth sports clubs and H.S. has several teams like that. Until the culture changes, my kids won't be participating in those sports. (Football and soccer are the worst offenders here.) I blame the parents/coaches. I tend to think parents get far too vested in this because they spend the bulk of their "free" time shuttling to and fro, so they want some return on their investment. If they work, and their weekends are spoken for, they really won't like seeing their kid's team lose, and the coaches have to hear about it. There's also a lot of money invested in participating. It's so sad. Why can't we let kids be kids?

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  2. My kids were probably the least competitive kids I know (like their parents) - they just wanted to have fun and kick, throw, and catch balls. Once things got to the point you are at they decided it wasn't fun anymore and they were done which is SO sad to me. They weren't good, so it wasn't like they were looking at scholarships or anything, but they enjoyed it and for ADULTS to take that joy away breaks my heart.

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  3. I am so saddened by your story. Safe travels-good luck accepting the first class pampering as a treat.

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  4. You mention both the best and the worst of team sports. There is something very worthwhile about being part of a team. You learn to work together for a common goal, and kids will play and cheer for their teammates even if they don't personally like them. There area great life lessons learned through the experience. Generally I found the kids echoed the sentiments of coaches and parents. If the coaches and parents were respectful so were the kids, and vice versa.
    I wish that time could go back to rec league sports rather than the travel team concept. When that transitioned we noticed the concept changed from learning skill sets to being highly competitive.

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