You Were Expecting La Liga?
Children's soccer is mostly awkward running around and confusion. I remember. It is like that electric football game from the seventies. You set up eleven players to a side, turn it on and the field vibrates until they fall down.
Still not as disappointing as Mousetrap. That was the game where you learned television commercials are edited. I enjoyed or endured two soccer games. What is better- girls soccer or boys? Boys basketball has more scoring than girls basketball.
I would not attend these games if not for my sister's children. The girls have more fun on the sidelines. One decided to give horse rides. As an older brother I had someone smaller on my back more than I had the chance to ride. These girls were surprised they could lift a contemporary.
Official score is not kept. The children know who won and they keep score. It's memorable if you score a goal. If you are going to have an official team, uniforms and scheduled games they should keep score. It's not like there will be a tournament at the end of the season.
I was not engaged in sports at that age. Parents sometimes push children into sports. The theory is this will show them what teamwork is and will help them interact.
In practice- if you suck at sports like I did there are no friendships to be had and they end up resenting you. The children have good friends- better friends than I had at that age. Not sure if they have made friends on the team. It can happen.
Sports can be nice because you see a different group of people. They might attend other schools. This is a good way to meet them. The games are not particularly competitive and hopefully the composite experience is fun.
A lot of my sports recollections are not good. I was not a fast runner and that messes everything up. I even stunk at bowling- a rare sport with no running. I fondly recall volleyball in gym class. There were no boy's teams in high school.
Fun Fact: I watch more Women's College Volleyball than college football.
It is interesting to me. It is nice showing up for the children. Oddly- the sports I most enjoyed had no adult supervision. At least my parents weren't there. After school basketball was enjoyable as was pickup. I never liked running laps which, to me, was what being on a team was.
You have to prepare. It felt like I ran those laps to sit on the bench. The children play most of the time. There are substitutions. I was pulled out of games because I sucked. That did not make me want to keep playing. I lost interest a lot earlier than I should have.
Hopefully the children enjoy it. If they don't- try something different next season. The kids of today have more extracurricular activities than high school students. And birthday parties. I was lucky to be invited to parties occasionally. Many of these children are double booked.
They leave one party to attend another. I hope they appreciate that as they get older and all their friends become too busy. For now, it's nice to watch soccer games and hope I'm not kicked by someone wearing cleats.