Soccer - Round 2

I hadn't really planned on writing anything about the second week of soccer, but it was so different from the first that it warrants mention.



Scott really didn't deal well with the practice portion. We arrived before practice officially started, so kids were just out on the field playing with the balls. Scott elected to stay with us on the sideline, saying (shouting, actually) that he didn't want to go out until practice started. Finally, I told him that we could go ask his coach if it was okay to try to kick the ball in the net. His coach just laughed and said yes. Scott kicked it into the net once and then ran back to the sidelines with a smile and stayed there until practice was to start.

Practice last week consisted of waiting in a line to kick the ball into the net, so anything other than that did not qualify as 'practice' in Scott's mind. When they did a warm-up lap around the field, he came back to us weeping, mainly because the Assistant Coach had been running too close behind him (gasp!). When the coaches tried to pair the players up for passing practice, Scott wandered away, dribbling the ball in wide circles. The drill was pretty chaotic, but when she eventually noticed Scott was on his own, the Assistant Coach said:
C: "Scott, where's your partner?"
S: "I don't have one."
C: "You don't have one? Do you want to be my partner?"
S: "No."

Then he just dribbled away until the other coach asked him the same thing and he said no. We called Scott over to the sideline and explained to him that having a partner was for kicking practice, so that you could have someone to play with you. We then told him to go ask the coach to be his partner and practice kicking with him. He dribbled the ball through the melee right up to where the coach was standing and booted the ball into the coach's leg. Coach looked down at him with surprise and said, "Do you want to be my partner?" Scott nodded, and passing practice began. We heard the Coach give a surprised laugh when Scott trapped the pass with his shins and then booted it right back pretty hard.



When practice was over, Coach gathered the troops for a chalk talk. The players gathered around him to listen, except for Scott, who continued to dribble his ball in a circle around the group.



When he finally did join them, I could hear his reactions to the Coach's instructions about the game: "But I already know how to play!"

The game itself turned out really well, and there were no emotional issues. Even when he was in the middle of a three-car-pileup he wiped himself off and just kept playing. He played most of the game and had lots of opportunity to play the ball -- even taking credit for a goal that someone else scored (he kicked the ball to the net, but someone else actually kicked it across the line). Afterwards, Coach said "Scott is a great little soccer player. He kicks it really well for his age."

Way to focus on the positive, Coach.