Dear Coaches: Could You Please End Soccer Practice on Time?

Based on several recent conversations with other frustrated soccer moms, I think that if we could all get together and write the coaches of the world about our scheduling issues, it might go something like this:

An Open Letter to Soccer Coaches Everywhere from Soccer Parents Everywhere,

First, let us say that we appreciate what you do.  Really, we do. There must be some kind of special sainthood for being willing to run around in the rain and cold and keep a smile on your face when little Susie asks for the gazillionth time “can I please have a turn playing forward now, please, really, because isn’t it my turn because you know Hannah got to play it more than me last time and now really can it be my turn?”

It is a lot of work, usually for little or no pay, just out of the goodness of your heart. We get that, and we are eternally grateful for all you do. Really. We can see that you put so much thought into trying to figure out how to see that everyone gets equal playing time, and gets to try all the positions AND that the team doesn’t get creamed every week. Its a tough balancing act, all right, and we’re not sure how you do it. We know you must spend hours coming up with all of those fun practice drills and we can see that you are just brimming with encouragement and ideas for our players. 

But that’s how the trouble starts. Sometimes, just every so often (well, actually, way too often), you get so excited about a drill or a team talk that you breeze right by the scheduled practice end time. Perhaps you are so enthusiastic and in the minute that you truly don’t notice. Perhaps you simply forgot to bring a watch. 

Whatever the cause, we’re quite sure that you aren’t intentionally trying to torture us. But you are. Here’s the thing - when you don’t let our kids go on time you risk knocking down the whole series of carefully placed dominoes that make up our evening schedules.  When we come to pick up our child from practice, chances are pretty good that we’ve just screeched out of the grocery store or left a meeting with only seconds to spare, so that we could make it in time to pick up little Joe promptly at 6:00, which will give us *just* enough time to get over to Jill’s softball practice when it ends at 6:15.

It may seem innocent enough to take just a few extra minutes and end at 6:15, but what will that mean for poor little Jill? Now she’s shivering and shaking because she had to spend 15 extra minutes in the rain, and oh by the way, both she and her coach are grumpy because she was picked up late. Meanwhile, the dinner we had planned to squeeze in before the 6th grade orchestra concert at 7:30 now won’t work, so it is fast food. Again. Even if it is one of those rare days when we don’t have to dash off to pick another child, we most certainly have other ways to spend a blessed extra 15 minutes than looking at our watch while we wait in the car.

All we’re saying is this: No matter how you look at it, this whole sports parenting thing is a carefully choreographed dance. Please, please, please, can you help us keep our timing straight by simply ending when you say that you are going to? If you feel the need to run a longer practice, that’s fine by us. We just ask that you schedule it that way in the first place. It really would make our lives sooooooo much easier. Thanks.

Keep up the good work!

Signed,

The Supportive - but Exhausted - Soccer Parents of the World

Truly, as in Other Areas of Life, Soccer isn't Always Fair

Last night, my son’s team played against another team, that no offense, literally isn’t in the same league. Let’s put it this way. We played a much better team a few weeks ago and beat them 9-0.

I can count on one hand the number of times that the other team managed to cross into our half of the field. In fact, we can’t recall a time that they managed to put more than 2 passes together. The official stats at the end said that we had 31 shots on goal to their 3, but really the 3 is pretty generous, as they consisted of long slow dribblers that didn’t exactly make our keeper nervous.

And yet, we lost the game. How did that happen? Everyone who saw the game, including the other team’s parents, walked away in shock at the outcome.

But that’s life. It happens. It wasn’t the first time that the stronger team lost and it won’t be the last. Between one stellar player, their goalkeeper, and a whole lot of luck, our opponents managed to hold us scoreless through 80 minutes of play and another 10 minutes of overtime. They were constantly bombarded with great shots, but to their credit, they admirably held on to the bitter end. Because high school games in our area aren’t allowed to end in a tie, that left a penalty kick shootout, which we lost 4-3, thanks to more strange twists of fate.

As I said, it happens. It would be easy to explain it away as saying that our team didn’t play well, or to blame it on the referree, or the really poor conditions. But sometimes, there really is no making logical sense of it. Our team did play well, and the referree called a perfectly reasonable game, and both teams had to deal with the same conditions.

Sometimes life simply isn’t fair. Perhaps there is a lesson in there somewhere to the players: All you can do is play your best, and whatever happens, happens. As long as you’ve left it all out on the field, there’s no reason to hang your head over an unexpected outcome.

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