Playing and Coaching Soccer

Madison started soccer this spring. I can still remember the first soccer team I played on, the Raiders. And believe it or not, I still remember my part of my first game. Honest, I remember calling all the other players on my team to huddle up (because that's what I saw football players do on TV) and not knowing what to say in the huddle. I just stood and looked at them. When one looked at me and said, "Yeah?" I just looked back blankly, replying, "We want to score goals." If a six year old can do actually do something more corny then what is expected of their age, I did it.

Today's under six soccer rules are dramatically different from when I played. For one the field is tiny, there are no goalies, and only four kids play per side. This still does not make it any less chaotic. One parent likened it to a swarm of bees chasing a honey coated ball. I view the game more like a pack of drunken sailors on the deck of a rocking ship, all trying to drink from the same bottle. They stubble, they push, they nip, they fall down, and every once in a while you lose one overboard.

Another first for the family is that, through a lack of volunteers, I have become one of the team's coaches. I have quickly realized a couple of things about coaching. One, just because you played soccer, does not mean you know how to teach 5 year olds to play soccer. Two, if you teach them not to pick up the up ball and to always know what goal they are to score on, you have taught them a lot. Three, there is no such thing as an athletic five year old. Finally, coaching at this age is not so much about teaching as it is about controlling chaos.

I will say that it has been fun, and having scored in all three games, including a hat trick in her last game, Madison seems to possess as much talent as a five year old can for soccer.