Coaching Soccer

Recently, I have discovered an ugly-but-true fact about myself: If I was a professional sports coach, I would be Mike Ditka. I would be the coach from the movie, "The Program" saying, "Are you hurt or injured?...Hurt you can still play...Injured means you can't play."* Which is a great attitude for professional sports coaches who are dealing with million dollar egos, but needs to be trampled down when coaching eight year olds at the co-ed, recreational we-just-play-to-learn-and-have-fun soccer level.

I thought I would be one of those "just let the kids play" coaches. I am not. Not even close. In fact, I am the coach yelling (yes yelling, but in the most supportive, nurturing way possible) at my kids to get the down the field, hustle, and get in the front of the ball.

I holler such gems of wisdom like, "If you can touch your teammate, you are standing too close!" Fifty years from now, when I have Alzheimer's, the only thing I will remember is coaching soccer, and will start yelling, "SPREAD OUT! ORANGE TEAM..SPREAD OUT!" at random moments at the nursing home staff. (The upside to these little outburst is that I will get tranquilized pretty darn quick.)

I want to win. Badly. I was horrified to realize that when Jonathon had a groin pull on Tuesday, if this been a big game, or one where money was involved, I would have been the coach holding his leg while the trainer gave him a cortisone shot. In my defense, Jon said: "Mom, I can hold the pain in for this game. Really, I don't mind." Fortunately, I have not completely lost my entire grip on reality, so he sat on the sidelines and cheered his team on to victory.

So, here is the ugly truth: Like most human beings, I want to win, all the time, no matter what. But, as I am teaching my eight year old team, if you play sports, you must accept victory as graciously as defeat. So, we learn from our mistakes. We work on getting in front of the ball and passing to our teammates. We learn to trust that our lesser skilled teammates will come through on the big plays. We learn that when we work together, pass the ball, and work as a team, more often than not we score a goal.

And I, the coach, learn to suppress my inner rub-some-dirt-in-it-Mike Ditka, so our future Beckman's have a place to learn to love the game of soccer.

(*This is a paraphrase of the actual quote, but I think you get the idea. Also, since "The Program" is the title of movie, it should be in italics or underlined, but apparently, while I can coach soccer, I cannot get either font to work, so it's in quotes. This shortcoming makes the English Major in me a little sick and sad. However, it has been overruled by the Mom part of me who is tired and going to bed.)