For the past few days I've been concerned about our end of season soccer tournament; for although it should be great fun for the kids; there's a lot going on with the soccer board; and complaints from parents; which are making this experience stressful and unpleasant. Nonetheless, I tried to remain positive and look forward to this evening; but this morning I had a feelin that I just couldn't shake and I knew that something was going to go wrong.
I met Mari for a quick cup of coffee and as soon as she saw me, she asked me if I was OK. I told her that I was absorbed in some soccer drama; and that I just wanted to shake it off and move past it. We had a lovely visit, and I went on my way; but there was that feeling again.
Fast forward to this evening. The Torpedos warmed up and checked in with the Field Marshall, but the other team only had three players there. They had missed the deadline to check in and it was getting very close to game time; so I walked over to talk to the coach and he explained that he had a small team to begin with; and now he had three kids out sick, so he was going to have to forfeit. I told him that we'd be happy to play him anyway, and that we could either play with the same amount of kids that he had OR we could give him some players. He preferred the latter option; so we walked over to the Field Marshall and explained the situation; and then we went to tell Luis what was going on. We asked our team for volunteers to go on the other teams side; and almost all of our players did; INCLUDING Kelsie. I told Kelsie that she needed to stay with Luis; but we gave them 4 of our players and then I updated our parents on the situation. The kids all seemed to have a great time; and that's what it's all about; so I know we did the right thing.
Feeling pretty good about the tournament thus far; we moved over to the field where Nicky was going to be playing. Little United took an early lead of two to zero, and the other team put up a good fight; but by the second half of the game, I found myself in a fight as well; because a couple of people were standing behind us, bad mouthing our coaches and our team. They were saying that because we were winning six to zero, we needed to stop scoring and give the other team a chance to score. Really? Because I thought that you were supposed to get what you worked for; and if they wanted to score, they needed to get the ball etc. etc. In my life, I have never seen such poor losers; or such bad sports; and those were the parents. It made me nauseous. They were saying that our coaches / team were very disrespectful for playing as we did; and I was just baffled. WHY should our team have to be anything less than what they are - a great team! Is that how the world works? Someone is good at something but they shouldn't try as hard as they can; because someone who's not as good, can't do as much; and you don't want them to feel bad? I thought that the idea of the soccer league was to have fun, and to improve your skills; and that's exactly what the kids on Nicky's team have done. Now if it wasn't bad enough that I got into an argument; Luis got involved, as did Jenny and my friend, Tina. It was just ridiculous. Arguing with these people was pointless, and disturbing and it kept me from watching and enjoying the game.
I wish that I had NOT had this feelin. And truth be told, the drama that occurred was not the drama that I'd been expecting. I thought if there was drama, it would be over something else; but I was wrong. Luis and I are both very upset about what happened tonight and about the messages that these people are sending. We're not really sure how we want to address this situation, or what we're going to do with the information that we now have. All we wanted was for our kids to play soccer and have a good time; but some adults; (who should be ashamed of themselves,) are interfering with this.
Tonight was very unfortunate and extremely unpleasant and I'm almost afraid to see what tomorrow will bring. I know that (for me,) I've been somewhat vague; but trust me, the most important part of this story is that 1. Children learn what they see; both negative and positive; and parents need to be very careful about the example that they're setting for their children. 2. You get what you work for. No one is going to hand something to you. and 3. The harder you work; the more you should receive.
Please send positive energy our way.
Till next time,
Queen of EVERYTHING
2 comments:
Paige, unfortunately, I have heard stories about parents like that before. Their children should not have to face disappointment, or lose. The sad thing is they are not helping their children by pretending that life is about always winning and getting everything what they want. They are setting their children up for a hard life.
Bad sport parents raise bad sports children.... hopefully good sports children learn and know they don't want to be like "them"...
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