The Mighty Fine McBrayers: Rebirth of a Soccer Player

Kaelan finished off another soccer season. This time around, there was such a vast difference over seasons past. My girl was a competitive and skilled little ball player. She really played soccer.

I am sure this sounds just terrible, but the last several seasons she played were enjoyable for her….she spent time with her friends, goofed off with her teammates, picked flowers and spent a great deal of time making sad pouty faces every time the other team scored a goal.

She loved soccer. We loved watching her play soccer, but after a certain amount of time it became somewhat boring to sit and watch our kid get hammered by opposing teams who were out there to win. Don’t get me wrong. I love watching kids have fun. I love kiddie sports where there is no score keeping and everyone gets a medal. I think that kind of stuff is important for emergent athletes. However, after 3 years of that, it was getting harder and harder to smile and say, “Good try! That’s okay if you got the ball stolen from you for the 18th time! You’ll get it next time!”, with a believable face.

The truth is, Kaelan got bored with it, too. She didn’t want to play last season. She told us it wasn’t fun anymore. We obliged and encouraged her to try other extra curricular activities. She took ice skating, dance, horseback riding, cooking, art, volleyball……eventually she asked about soccer again. We agreed that if she wanted to give it a go again, we were fine with that, but the agreement was she had to finish the season. NO quitting.

We gritted our teeth and hoped for the best. This would be a fresh start. No friends on the team. No friend’s dad for a coach. She had always played on older teams (to be with friends), but now she would be with her age group in a competitive league. Would she be able to hack it, or would she get hit in the head with a ball while picking flowers?

She did it, folks. She not only played, she wowed us. The stifling of my competitive nature all these years nearly killed me, so that first game when she got out there and kicked some tail, I found myself jumping out of my soccer mom chair and screaming with delight!

Oh, Happy Day! Oh, Happy Day! Praise the Lord! My girl knows how to play DEFENSE!!

We all found ourselves loving the game. Loving the season. Loving the coach. It was a fabulous season. I think she will want to continue her soccer career. I hope she does, but I can suppress that strong urge to push her towards sports and support her in whatever endeavor she chooses. I really can. It is awesome to see your kids succeed in whatever makes them happy.

So, whether it be on the soccer field next year, or a tuba recital. I will be the crazy lady knocking over her chair to jump up and yell for my kid.

You might want to avoid sitting next to me.