Jo Cool Mama

A milestone Saturday as Sammy had his first soccer practice. All the boys were grouped together and then split up into teams of 6 or 8. Sammy was teamed with his good pal Connor and a new friend, Wyatt. Wyatt has older brothers who are all about soccer and so he knew just what to do with the ball, whereas Sammy and Connor were a little lost for the most part. Sammy just watched and sort of followed the crowd around the field, and Connor kept playing football by tackling the soccer ball.

It was an intimidating event for most of the newbies out there and there were complaints flying all over. Sammy was complaining that the other kids were running faster than he was and he didn’t want to do it anymore. My response was, “Suck it up, get out there and run!” You cannot teach them it’s okay to quit on the first try and he will learn to give things a try before taking the easy way out. Wyatt was complaining it was too hard, and his mother said (more or less) the same thing I did. Plus, I work with the high school soccer team and Wyatt’s brother is our star Keeper - Wyatt’s mother and I know it needs a little push to get them out there, but once they are there they love every moment of it! After practice we asked Sam what he thought, and he really enjoyed it - all that matters in the end.

It was a moment I’ll never forget and Sammy was so cute in his over-sized shirt and socks. I cannot wait until our next practice in a couple of weeks! Sam needs a lot of practice at home before then - we need to work on physical skill and mental abilities. Believing you can go out there and kick it, no matter your level, is the difference between winners and losers.

I am offically a soccer mom now…