Two FIRSTS in one day!!!

Last week we had our first soccer game and it was my first time to coach my son in said soccer game. Boy, was this a completely eye opening day!

First of all, the soccer was much worse than I thought. The first time we had practice all the kids on my team were really aggressive and running after the ball. Little did I know what we would be like compared to others! (Now, I do understand that our goal here is just fun. I get that - sort of.) So at our first game the other team scored 3 goals in about the first minute. Yikes. It's going to be a long 32 minutes. We, coaches, are on the field entering new balls while the kids run around trying to get the ball into the goal. The other coach I was working with had alot of experience and managed to get all of the kids to score. So that was good. All I did was encourage my kids to run after the ball and try to kick the ball to the goal. Obvious, I know.

I did discover one very important fact: the kids did not watch the ball the whole time they were on the field. WHAT?!?! Four year olds were getting distracted? So my mantra is now look at the ball. Yep. Look at the ball with your eyes.

They did all seem to have fun, so I guess that was good.

Secondly, I am not going to be THAT parent. I have been coaching long enough to know what kind of parent I want to be toward my kids when they are playing sports. At practice my son was really aggressive and had ok control of the ball and wasn't afraid to get in the middle of the pack. Guess what he did during the game...he just ran. Now, he did run pretty fast, but he ran to catch up to the ball without getting anywhere near it. Hmm. Ok. We can work on that. But guess what he did when he wasn't playing - went and climbed the tree. Yep. That was my kid. My husband wasn't there, so he didn't have anyone assigned to watch him. I look over to find him and he was in the tree. We ABSOLUTELY encourage tree climbing and we just built a tree fort in our yard. I had no idea he would climb the tree during the game. There were a few other things that happened that I will spare you the details.

I had to come face to face with my own reality and expectations - he was just like every other kid. Distracted and doing his own thing. I am the parent and it is my job to teach my

kids the things they don't know. No one told him that he couldn't climb the tree or that he shouldn't climb the tree so I didn't get upset with him. BUT, I did think he was going to dominate the game because he was so aggressive in practice. REALITY CHECK!! Ha!

I did get upset with him about something and apologized to him later. It's a new world coaching a new sport and coaching my own kid. Wow. I need Jesus to help me navigate this!

Anyone have any thoughts and experiences to share about coaching your own kid?

#coachforhisglory