Soccer's Over!

So soccer this summer has been a whirlwind. It lasted 8 weeks (I think?) but it seemed like only a few! Buddy's skills grew by leaps and bounds, but unfortunately his attitude grew with it.

It's surprisingly tough coaching a team when your son is clearly head and shoulders above the rest of the players. I didn't go into this season expecting this, since last season Buddy was one of the dreamier ones on the field.

This year, between his sudden coordination and all the time he and his dad are spending playing together, he's suddenly a superstar!

And that's great. I'm so proud. But what do you do when your boy suddenly dominates to the point where no one else on his team even gets a chance? We talked about making passes, letting everyone have a chance to have the ball... but how can you blame the kid for not wanting to do that when he passes to a teammate and then that teammate doesn't even run with the ball? It would be different if the other kids tried but failed, but we have some kids who won't even run. Which drives me nuts, of course.

Anyway, last week Buddy's cocky attitude got him in trouble. After scoring his 4th or 5th goal of the game, he did a little happy dance and some kid from the other team got ticked off and decked him. And Buddy hit him back. And all of a sudden they were in a fistfight.

I was mortified. But what do you say? Don't be happy about your success? Don't be proud of yourself? And when someone creeps up from behind trying to hurt you... shouldn't you defend yourself?

I definitely gave him a talk about sportsmanship, but... I don't know. I maybe don't think he really did anything wrong? I mean, if another child had scored a goal, would it have been wrong for them to run around and cheer about it? And since my kid is only 5, is it really fair to expect him to understand that he's not allowed to be vocal about his success, since he's doing better than others?

Anyway, this year was great, because Buddy got so much better. And because I got over a fear and coached his team. But I definitely can't wait for next year, when he will hopefully play against kids more his own level :)

Proud coach/mama with her favorite teammate!