Friday, May 1, 2015

A Little Moxie, A Little Mischief: Not Your Typical Soccer Mom

I never thought I would be a soccer mom.

Like never. Ever.

EVER.

We've never been a soccer family. I've never wanted to be a soccer family. Soccer was never on my radar. When we first mulled over what rec sport we would sign our son up for last year, soccer wasn't even a consideration, and we settled on wrestling. Wrestling has been amazing and awesome and a wonderful learning opportunity for my little dude. Midway through his second wrestling season he started pitching the idea of soccer.

"Craaaaaaaaaaaaaap!"

That was my initial thought. Mostly because I was counting down the weeks to the end of wrestling season. Those 7am meets, that last for four to five hours, were getting brutal. I was also looking forward to sort of having my weekends back.

But he kept asking. Kept pushing. Expressed eagerness. I usually don't give in a lot to my kids. I'm kind of mean that way sometimes. I like my "me" time, and the thought of adding another "activity" to our schedule when I wanted to spend my weekends in other ways wasn't appealing. The kid is quite persistent though, and his enthusiasm for a sport he really has no knowledge of beyond a few gym class games was quite endearing.

It was love at first kick. He had one practice under his belt before playing his first game. Only one practice and he had zero jitters. Zero doubt. Zero hesitation. Only one practice and he was confident in volunteering to be goalie right off the bat. Some might question if this was confidence or ignorance, but if you ever met my little guy, you would know that he's shy and takes time to warm up. It is so very rare that he goes into a situation with such sureness. I don't think I have ever seen his eyes filled with such excitement as I did at his first game. He was giving himself to this sport 100%. I'm not quite sure where this affection for soccer came from, but it is there to an undeniable level. He played with such excitement and such passion during that first game, that through my mom eyes, it was the most beautiful thing in the world to witness. Maybe he actually knew what he was talking about when he was pleading with me to sign him up. Hmmm.

We're still pretty early into the season, but he is so in love with soccer that he starts talking about his next game, as we're on the way home from his current game. He's disappointed that practice is only once a week, and spends time after school in the backyard working on his soccer skills.

So maybe it is yet another activity during my weekend. It's another 8 weeks where I have to schedule grocery shopping and errands around games. It's another 8 weeks where I have to pile all the kids into the car and run them to practice during a busy week. It's another 8 weeks where I lose some time I could have spent aimlessly wandering around Target, or sitting at the beach with a book. It's another 8 weeks where I'll probably complain at least once. Or twice. Or a handful of times. But to see my kid love something, even if it's soccer, is so worth it.

But don't call me a soccer mom! I'm not quite ready for that title, yet.

4 comments:

  1. Yes! So time consuming! But worth every minute. Cute post.

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  2. Awe- love at first kick! I grew-up playing soccer and can't wait for my little man to start playing... he wants to- and I am thrilled! Would LOVE to coach his team!

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    1. That's awesome that he wants to follow in his mommy's soccer foot steps! You'll love every minute.

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