A Beautiful Week for Soccer. Mostly.

And the week ends with a wash out.  I'm not sure why, though, I didn't hear any of the kids complaining.  Or maybe it was just my kid who wasn't complaining. 

While the rest of the lot gathered under shelter, already dripping wet after the light drizzle turned to torrential downpour with little warning, Lydia took advantage of the fast growing system of puddles.

JUMP, SPLASH!

JUMP!

SPLASH!

"Mommy, did you SEE that SPLASH?!"

Kyra had a great week.  She seems to be able to handle the ball a bit better this year.  She's much less clumsy and awkward.  She started out with the dark haired coach on the first day, but half way through she switched groups.  Seems the first group was comprised of more teenagers who were too rough and tumble for her liking. 

With each new morning, the two groups (old group and new group) stretched and ran drills together for the first hour or so.  She liked both coaches, though I wish she would have stuck to this first one.  He was, by far, more energetic and in sync with his group while the other coach had a handful of troublemaking boys on his hands that seemed to get the better of him.

The good thing about Kyra, she never took offense to his yelling and frustration when those boys drained him of his patience.  I asked her about him on Thursday, after having a discussion with one of the parents who was seething over how he spoke to those boys.  I asked Kyra if Coach seemed to get angry a lot and Kyra, quite surprised by my comment, probably because she had just finished telling me for yet another day, how much fun she was having, simply said there were some boys who were really rude to the coach as well as to some of the other kids and didn't follow directions and that made Coach mad.  That was confirmation of what I had watched from afar.  He tried to redirect them, discipline them, encourage them and finally gave in to loosing his patience with them.... though, at times, he took out his frustrations on all of them. 

I can't say I blame him.  Was he perfect?  No.  Did he have a lot on his plate that the other coaches didn't have to deal with, yes.  Did he do the best that he could, given the situation.  I think he tried.  And really, isn't that all that we could ask of him?

The girls had a ball.  I think if I could find a place for them to play, I might look into signing them up for a season.  See how they like the sport when played for more than one week each summer.

It'll have to be next year, though.  I heard though an acquaintance that the leagues around here had their tryouts and placements back in May.  Hmph.

Look at them.  Dripping wet and still smiling. 

Thank you, UK International Soccer Camp.  Every day this week, all three girls were able to take a good, long, nap (at the same time, no less!) and still go to bed on time each night.  That alone is worth what we paid for the session.  The joy you brought to my girls is just icing on the cake.