Monday, May 13, 2013

Expectations vs. Reality

My dad always reminds us, particularly in our role as wives, to keep our expectations low. I try. Really, I do. But there are some things that I just can't help but get my hopes up sky high about. I have been so excited for Bennett's first soccer game. We've chosen to not put him in any sports up until this point (other than lots of tumbling classes and gymnastics last summer) because that's never been his passion or forte. I wanted it to be something he expressed interest in and not something we pushed on him because all his friends were doing it. We knew he was ready and he's a scrappy kid and fast runner so soccer seemed like a logical place to start. 

These are the moments you picture way before you even have kids. You picture yourself rocking your newborn baby to sleep, singing a lullaby. You picture reading books to your toddler and sending your child off to school for the first time. You picture sitting on the sidelines of a sporting event and cheering them on. You picture them scoring the winning goal and jumping out of your seats in excitement. 
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You don't picture 20mph winds, trying to wrangle your 3 & 1yr old alone while your husband's off coaching a team he doesn't want to coach, your almost 6 yr old son pouting on the sidelines because he didn't get a turn or trying to reason with your delirious, temper-throwing 3 year old who just wants to play too. Oy vey. It was a hot mess. Despite that, I'm so happy with these pictures and someday I should just delete this blog entry and we'll forget all about it and think it was just the picture perfect day from our imaginations ;) 

Jon and Bennett all smiles (for the moment):
We signed up with i9 sports which seems like a fantastic program. Each week a kid from the team gets awarded with a free pizza for displaying one of the characteristics of good sportsmanship they focus on for the week. Also, the practices and games are back to back so just one hour per week. The bad part is, each individual team is run by two parent volunteers, with the overseers and refs provided by i9.  No one was coming forward to volunteer for Bennett's team so Jon did at the last minute. We honestly had no clue that he was going to be the coach for the entire practice and game. It just wasn't at all what we expected. There's another dad who's volunteering but he didn't show up until the practice was over and the game was already started. Jon has many talents and gifts. Coaching or teaching just isn't one of them. He did the best he could but he was seriously stressed out and Bennett would have responded much better to a coach who wasn't his dad. It was sorta horrible.
Bennett spent a lot of the warm-ups like this:
I thought Dawson would be totally fine just running around in the grass while Bennett played. He was not. He doesn't do well in brand new situations around strangers and he was so mad he couldn't play. He was just plain out of it. He sorta glazes over and acts like a crazy person, to put it mildly. Bennett got mad when he didn't get a turn he thought he deserved and refused to go back in for the last half of the game. Like I said, he would do much better with a coach that's not his dad. A little frustrating when you're paying a lot of money for the season!
Despite the mess, I am in love with this picture:
Next week we will all know what to expect and hopefully handle all of it with a lot more dignity and grace! 

3 comments:

  1. Ugh. Aren't you glad you didn't start him sooner?? Hopefully it will get better! xxxooo

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  2. It's really unfortunate the way organized sports for kids are run sometimes. My husband coached both little league and hockey for our son and holy cow! You can't please ANYONE! It's so not worth it to put kids in at a super young age (4 for T-Ball?? Crazy!!) and expect them to get it or even learn from it. And volunteer parents? The ones that show are awesome and it's really unfair when you get the straggler ones. It's hard work.
    Hopefully as everyone gets acclimated, the season will feel better as it progresses.

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  3. Great pics of the day Have! It was so cold and windy that not everyone was a happy camper on our end either...it was a bit crazy wrangling a 6 month old...here's to a better week next week friend...it's only up from here right? :)

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