About two months ago a paper came home from school about the local YMCA's Youth Indoor Soccer League. I almost always ask the kids if they are interested in participating. Most of the time, the response is "no". I don't really know why, but they haven't been interested in doing anything since their swim lessons.
But this time Alex said yes. We had several discussions about how, if I sign him up for it, he has to finish it. The full 10 weeks. January through March. He never has to play again ... ever ... if he doesn't want to, but he must finish what he started. The same conversation was had with Keira when she decided to do basketball. He said he understood and agreed to finish it out.
Well, today was a Soccer Clinic, which we signed up for so he could get an idea of what to expect on Saturday when he has his first practice/game.
I took my camera along, naturally, to try to capture some of the fun. I wasn't expecting great pictures, which is a good thing, because I didn't get any. :) The poor lighting in the gym and the fact that he decided to go all the way on the other side of the gym made photographing him difficult. I pumped my ISO up to 1600, but still had to use a slow shutter speed, so most of my shots are still blurry. And grainy.
Doing a few races across the gym to warm up the muscles.
Stretching. I love the fact that the kid on his left is fixing a wedgie. :) Things you don't notice when you're taking a picture.
Practicing dribbling the ball.
I was goofing off with Nick while Alex was doing his thing. Nick is in an "I'm not going to pose or smile for the camera" phase, so I kept just holding the camera out in front of him and snapping. Here are a couple pics that I got of him.
This one actually isn't too bad.
This one cracks me up.
I couldn't stay in the gym to watch the whole time because I was getting frustrated with Alex for not listening to the instructors. So I went out into the hallway with Keira and Nick, who quickly ditched me to go play basketball in the other gym.
Alex came out crying several times, telling me he was quitting, and wanting to go home. Ugh! I wouldn't let him though. I made him go back into the gym, even if he didn't participate. Which I don't believe he did.
When we left, I was asking myself why I do these things. Did I really expect things to be different this time? I would get frustrated watching him in swim lessons, so I would either take my iPod and block him out or I would go upstairs and exercise. Or I would take a magazine and go sit in the hallway until class was over. He just wants to do what he wants to do. He doesn't care what the instructors are trying to show him. This makes me wonder if he is like this in Preschool too. His teacher has told me he has trouble sitting still but nothing like this.
Anyway, I left there completely frustrated. So we'll see how things go on Saturday morning. I have a feeling we'll be sitting there watching him play over in the corner while the other kids play soccer. I'm hoping the coaches won't let that happen.
I will make him go every week though. He said he wouldn't quit and I won't let him. I will hold him to his word. Perhaps eventually he'll see that the other kids are having fun and want to join in.
I can only hope.
3 comments:
Maybe you can have a little chat with the coach away from Alex letting the coach know he/she has permission to make your son participate instead of letting him sit on the sideline. That way the coach knows you are on his side and won't yell for pushing your kid a little.
Hopefully it goes better next time! He'll probably be crying after the last week is over because he wants to play more... even if never played during the weeks he was supposed to haha.
I'm with Laura. Talk to the coach separately. Different note: But when Dyl was around 9 (which I know is several years older than Alex) he got pretty smart with his Dad and Mike told him he was benched at his next little league game (that was all Dylan talked about, his games). Mike called the coach and told him to bench him. So he did. He spent the entire game ON the bench, watching his friends play and answering "Why aren't you playing Dylan?" "Because I smarted off at my Dad and I got benched for it" LOL
Also....ummm forgot what I was going to say. Hold one. Oh yeah. It was really deep. That poor kids will forever be known as "Wedgie kid" in my mind.
Also. Again, I know he's young. There is nothing wrong with saying "If you choose not to play that's your choice, but you are part of a team and you WILL sit with the team" and make him stay on the team bench. (I am stuck on the bnech theme here)
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