Soccer season is heading to the business end. How long ’til we get our Saturdays back?
Kids’ soccer doesn’t make much sense to me. We play outdoor soccer in winter and indoor soccer in summer. We should flip it. Because I am FREEZING, and so are my kids. I drink bad coffee and lukewarm hot chocolates just to try and stop shivering. So I can cheer. Yay for soccer!
I’m not an expert, but I’ve been a soccer mum for almost five years. So actually yes, I am an expert.
Here are 7 things only a soccer parent would understand:
1. How to freeze and thaw kids without them getting sick.
It makes perfect sense to go from doing everything possible to keep our children warm and healthy during winter, and then send them out to train and play in bone-chilling cold or even when it’s raining, because if the grounds are open, the game goes ahead no matter what. And don’t expect most parents to get out of the car during training on nights like that. We’ll be in the car blasting the heater drinking tea, thank you very much.
Sadly, this isn’t accepted during games when we have to force ourselves out of the car to watch, like a good parent. Did you know it actually hurts to clap when it’s cold?
2. Clap for everything.
Think of the Lego Movie, theme song, "Everything is awesome". In soccer, EVERYTHING is awesome, even the stuff that is not. If your child's team almost scores, clap. If we save a goal, clap. If the other team scores a goal, clap, a little less loudly but still clap. And cheer. Cheer every kick, every attempt at at goal, every good pass, every failed pass. Cheering is good, as is yelling out passionate advice when the coach isn't close enough to give you a dirty look.