My youngest son is absolutely football crazy. It started shortly before the European Championship frenzy early this summer, and by the time Team Oranje were sent home in disgrace once again, his mild interest had turned into a full-blown obsession. He began to play both in and out of school with anyone, anywhere, at any time, for hours, no matter the weather. Posters of the EK team on his bedroom wall, learning the names of all the players for various teams, collecting trading cards, etc. I kept waiting for it to die down, for his attention to shift to something else, but it never did.
It's had a couple of consequences. Those of you on my flist who've been around for a while may remember the concerns we've had over his perceived weight problem. Well, this past week when I went to buy the first round of new school clothes, we got a happy surprise - he's come down an entire clothing size since last spring. This year I won't have to hem his pants up 6 inches. Yay!
The other consequence is that he's now found something that he likes to do that he's fairly good at, and that other kids his age recognize that he's good at, so lots of positive feedback from his peers has improved his self-esteem immensely.
So it wasn't really all that difficult a decision to sign him up for the local football club. We got him in a bit late, so he missed his first practice, but the coach said it wouldn't be a problem if he started with the first tournament.
So I make a trip to the local Sport Palais, and there's all this *stuff* to buy - uniform (home and away), socks, shin protectors, an "offical" AS80 ball, one of those undershirt thingies for when you practice against your own team, an official AS80 track suit, and of course a carry-all in which to put the aforementioned swag. I don't even remember what all it cost - I just shut my eyes, thought of the joy it would bring to my darling boy, took a deep breath and ran my card through the machine. I *do* know that the sign-up alone was something like 200 euros for the year. OUCH!
So I bought the equipment, and today was the tournament. It was decided to make it a family affair, so we all piled in my car and drove the 5 blocks to the football field. :cP Only once we get there, we realize that no one has remembered to bring his nicely-packed, shiny new sport bag. So I drop everyone else off to meet with the coach, and I race back to the house to get his stuff, muttering nasty imprecations all the while.
Then it hit me - I am now officially a "soccer mom." *gulp* I swore up and down when my oldest son was about this age that I would never, ever, EVER, become like those woman. I shook it off, telling myself that just because my kid played football, I didn't have to behave like SOME parents do. You know what I mean.
Anyway, he got dressed and after some initial confusion over which field was theirs, the fun began.
He played well, despite the fact they lost all three games (the games only last 20 minutes or so at this level), but he passed the ball along instead of hogging it (lots of kids just want to score, without realizing that it's a TEAM sport), and he stopped more than one goal from getting in by blocking the kick. He made a ton of new football-mad friends and had a wonderful time and the coach made a point of telling him how well he did. He even got a ribbon for playing in the tournament. So although I'm going to be spending a LOT more time at the football field than I ever wanted to for a while, it's absolutely worth it.
I'm still not going to buy a mini-van, though. Not ever.
Lukas with his souvenir from
Venice - an Edwin van der Saar football shirt. *facepalm*
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