You know how I said in the previous post how nervous I was about coaching my first soccer game? Well, the next day the nervousness continued. We had to eat early because the game was at 6:30 p.m. and our kitchen is a mess from the renovation -- dust covers the counters like fresh snowfall -- and so we went to Bitondo's for dinner and of course because it was early neither kid ate. Oh, and I let them have chocolate milk. So they were a bit nuts as we got ready for the game. Getting Myron into his uniform went surprisingly smoothly:
But then I noticed we were running late and then it was racing around for drinks and a snack at the game and I recalled the way when I was a kid coaches always gave us cut-up orange sections at halftime and maybe I should cut up some oranges wait a second we don't have any oranges and oh yeah the kitchen's a disaster area and I was thinking about oranges as we were getting in the car, everyone strapped in, shoot, running a bit late, shoot, shit, I forgot the soccer balls and the pylons, ran back inside, returned to the car and as I was pulling away from the curb I thought, you know, you're so stressed about this, relax asshole, yes this is your first time coaching soccer but it also happens to be Myron's first soccer game and try to be make it fun for him. I took a few deep breaths and put the CD player to Broken Bells, the first song, which is so great, and Penny started dancing in the back and I focussed on the kids rather than myself and as we approached the game the stress kind of melted away.
Myron was so excited. The other parents were cool. And the actual game was hilarious. Soccer when you're three-and-a-half is nothing like the game that everyone knows. It's more like rugby, full of scrums, except rather than carrying the ball everyone just kicks it, and each other. Our team name is Sweden and we were playing Chile, who, it should be said, had several more five-year-olds than we did, and we got absolutely creamed. Absolutely creamed!
"Hey Dad, I'm tired," Myron's saying in this photo. I got him a drink and then he went back into the game. Natalie arrived from the clinic and took Penny, and Myron spent the final quarter-hour of the game running around and tackling his friend Kate. He scored a goal -- he was happy about that. And now he seems to understand more about the game than he did. After, Natalie and Penny and Myron and I went to the ice cream truck parked by the field and the kids had ice cream. Since then Myron's kept his ball around him and whenever there's an opportunity he gets this look of concentration and runs at the ball. He's learning about sportsmanship and the game of soccer, and I'm learning how to concentrate on what's important. Yeah, I think this soccer season will be a learning experience for both of us.
(Thanks to Monique Montgomery for taking many of the game-time photos.)
Wooo Hooo! Go Myron! Sometimes your dad runs to me during a game and says, "Hey Colin, I'm tired."
Posted by: Dundas FC | June 11, 2010 at 05:31 AM