Especially when you’re upset
My ego got spanked. My child didn’t make the elite team for his age group, as he did the prior year. It hurt. What also hurt: the email made very little sense to me or my husband. It confused other parents, too. I took a lot of phone calls and replied to text messages yesterday with “I’m not sure what it means.”
I believe my child is every bit as good as the boys who made elite for next season. I’m a parent. That’s my job. The team was cut from 21 to 10. Period. And the ones who made the cut are really good.
My son was worried about a few missed saves at evaluations. I told him it would be ok (what else could I say?). Every keeper misses something. You have to have a short memory. You have to come out of the box. You’re the field coach, tell them where you want them.I asked if he played his best. He did. He wants to become a Premier League keeper. He might want to be a professional FortNite player. Or a scientist. Or Spider-Man. He. Is. Nine.
He said he’s “gonna train to be the best – can I say it?- f***inggoalie ever.” And I believe he will train his heart out. We are hosting a college player this summer and he is a GK. That’s an advantage for sure. We (the parents) have access to professional GK coaching (for a legit low fee). He will go to two soccer camps at local colleges and with his team (included in dues). And he’s playing competitive summer soccer. We (the parents) are fortunate in that we can do this and we budget for it. This stuff wasn’t an option for us when we were kids.
It boils down to what another parent said: this is the first time in their lives they’ve been denied something they really wanted. It’s different from being told no to the request for V-bucks or some plastic “collectible” toy that will end up under a bed, forgotten. This is soccer. This is the dream.
As the coach said, there are three kinds of kids:
- Forget it, I quit
- Oh, that’s cool, I’m good
- I’ll show you (and prove him wrong).
The question is, which type will he be? My money is on #3.