Hi. My name is Emily and I’m a soccer mom and team manager for a U9 boys’ travel team. I am also a certified coach (in North Carolina) and former high school rec player. My husband Doug and I are the parents of Connor, who hated soccer when he was 3. Now he is a goal keeper who says that his life’s ambition is to become the next David de Gea.
In our journey into youth soccer, Doug and I have learned a few tricks to better manage our son’s transition from recreational player to travel player. We want to share what we have discovered to help others learn (and laugh) from our mistakes and maybe to save you time (and money) in your own journey.
Doug played youth
As a family, when we’re not on the field or driving to it, we are the caretakers of two rescue dogs: a boxer named Trixie and a Lab named Cooper. We also have two beta boys: de Gea and Pogba. We watch a lot of Premier League Soccer (Manchester United fans) and read a lot of Wimpy Kids books. We struggle with balancing homework, practices, life and healthy meals.
We like the beach and the mountains, museums, action movies, the Steelers and Pens, Ninjago and Halloween. We love Christmas and hanging with our extended family and friends.
We like to travel and though we haven’t made it across the pond, we have managed to build Manchester United into vacations: 2017 in Washington, D.C. and 2018 in Michigan.
Soccer has brought us closer together as a family because it’s opened up a way for each of us to bond in our own ways with Connor. And it’s opened up new friendships for all of us.
Doug and I met at work. He was a page designer and I was a copy editor/page designer for the News & Record (Greensboro, NC). In addition to sharing my stories from turf, blogging will allow me to remain connected to journalism and keep my creativity alive.
It is our hope that you will look forward to our stories and feel comfortable enough to share some of your own. We would love to hear from you, so please, click the subscribe link and drop us a comment.