Confessions of a Soccer Mom

The regular soccer season finished last weekend. The season lasts 8-9 weekends in the Fall. This year we got lucky and never has super bad, cold weather. We did have some rain but who can't live with that in Seattle!? Cooper's team, the Cougars (yes, a hard name to bear in a Husky household) are still pretty much playing at the "herd" stage of soccer, which is all the players on the field cluster around the ball. Once in awhile some one will break away from the herd with the ball and depending on how alert the goalie is will score a goal. This year you did see an occasional attempt at passing. Cooper loved playing goalie (as did most of the boys) and was alert most of the time. His team finished pretty well--although at this age they still don't "officially" keep score but you know every boy on both teams knows who won the game in the end.
Spencer had a new coach and alot of players were new this year. The new coach continued the great groundwork laid by the previous coach and the team continued to play as a team and are fun to watch. Spencer isn't the most agressive kid on the field but towards the end of the season did start to use his superior height (compared to almost all other kids his age) to his advantage. (I love the picture on the right because it looks like he is about ready to sit down.) He was generally the tallest kid on the field (but not necessarily the biggest) all season long. He's not much into sports but seems to enjoy soccer. His team is in the city tournament which starts after Thanksgiving and is double elimination. You want them to do well in the tournament but there is a secret part of you that wants it all to end well before Christmas!
Tucker loves soccer almost as much as he loves sleeping. His team got lucky and won two games this year. They actually have some pretty good raw talent on their team but it has never been harnessed to work together as a team. Being on the high school team really helped Tucker improve his game. The team scored about 10 goals all season long and Tucker scored 5 of them (and he played defense on the high school team so didn't score one goal all season long). He was the "Corner Kick" guy. Any time there was a corner kick no matter where he was on the field, he was the guy who kicked it. His team is also in the city tournament but we don't have to worry about even coming close to Christmas. If they win even one game it will be a miracle.
So you might wonder what are my "confessions"? I have to admit that I don't totally understand the game. Like when are they "offsides" and why? It seems to me that being in front of the defenders is a good thing but apparently not always.
I have a hard time just sitting and watching--my feet have been known to involuntarily kick the ball. Sometimes I spend more time socializing with the grown-ups than watching the game.
I'm secretly glad when the season is over because the longer it goes, the colder it gets. That's why it doesn't make me so sad that Tucker's team won't do so well in the city tournament. Spencer's team however gives me cause for concern.
I think the trophies they give to the kids at end of the season are stupid--trophies are so meaningless now because everyone gets them regardless of a winning or losing season. (I'm sure the trophy making business loves it though.) One of my favorite lines from "The Incredibles" is "I'm going to make it so that everyone is special because when everyone is special then no is." (something like that). Luckily the trophy thing goes away as the kids get older and Cooper is the only one still getting trophies.
I like being the "bad mom" who brings twinkies, ding dongs or other bad stuff as snacks for after the game. Everyone wants to be so PC with the healthy snacks that I love going against the grain. Although I do have to admit that I tried to buy healthy stuff for Cooper's team this year.
I completely forgot the weekend I had snacks for Spencer's soccer team. When the game was over I just left the field and went to the car before the boys walked off. Luckily there was another boy missing that week so all the boys thought it was his mom who forgot. (I told Spencer he could them at practice the next week that it was me who was the lame mom.)
Soccer is a fun sport to watch and a great sport to play for most kids regardless of their athletic ability. It is fun to watch my boys play.
This year we stepped into a new arena--basketball for the first time. Cooper is trying it this year. It is the most hilarious thing to watch! The nice thing? The games are indoors and only last about 30 minutes. Gotta love that. I will post some pictures later on.