Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Sporting News

Steve and I drove 100+ miles this past weekend to watch Glamour Girl and Yes We Do Eat Fig Newtons For Breakfast Boy (AKA our four year old niece and seven year old nephew) play soccer on their town's local league. Honestly, you haven't lived until you've watched dozens of small children with no sense of team sports set loose on a giant field to chase a ball.

Glamour Girl's team is called The Duckies. Picture thirty five (or three hundred and fifty; at times it was hard to tell) tiny people in light blue shirts and little shin guards, and one determined man with a whistle trying to organize them. The impossibility of getting one's ducks in a row has never been clearer to me. The high point was when he taught them the "superhero" move where you lay with your chest on the ball, arms outstretched, pretending you can fly (watch for it in the next World Cup). After that, he blew the whistle and announced "Water break!" at which point his small charges ran full-throttle off the field and into the crowd, searching for parents and then gulping down water to quench the thirst they'd worked up in their five minutes of superhero soccer skills.

But my favorite moment was when, about twenty minutes later, the coach blew the whistle again and called the Duckies back to the pond. They were gathered in close around him to hear the secrets to the next big soccer trick, when an excited little girl yelled, "Coach--look!"
"What is it Ashley?" he asked.
"That cloud," she said, turning and pointing,"it looks just like a UNICORN!"

The Boy's game was next. There were no unicorn sightings, but that doesn't mean we didn't have fun. His team scored six or seven goals, only half of which were for the other team :)

9 comments:

kristen spina said...

Trish, you have captured this perfectly. For those of us who live it every weekend, I'm not sure we'd survive it without a sense of humor. In my son's case, it's not unicorns in the sky that distract, it's commuter trains running by the field. My son taps away on to his imaginary train "count-a-la-tor" (no, he insists it is not a calculator, it is a countalator for counting) and gives me a tally at the end of the game.

What fun!

xxxx said...

Oh, that is so funny. It brought me right back to my (very funny and patience building) stint as a Little League baseball coach. Me and 15 8- and 9-year-old boys. Ha ha.

Anonymous said...

This was more than a lol, I think I actually guffawed

I've heard that they stop the world cup for the same reason

Allie said...

Haha - that's so funny. My seven year old nephew plays soccer every Saturday in a park near my home in NZ and we've had a few similar incidents, especially when he was younger.

Patti said...

i agree that a whippersnapper soccer game is the best...you just never know whne someone will just walk off the field cause they're "done", or stop running to wave at mom, or just doodle in the grass....love these games!

Stacy said...

How cute! That niece of yours, glamorous AND sporty.

Beck said...

Oh, that sounds like a LOT of fun!

Sarah said...

I give you major points for driving over 100 miles just to see the games! That's family dedication.

Jen A. Miller said...

Oh, this brings back some memories, mostly of little shin guards and oranges at halftime!

Jen
downtheshorewithjen.blogspot.com