Self sacrifice

Or the lesson I learned this weekend. I have been coaching my three kids soccer teams for the last six years, that is 12 seasons, and 18 teams. It is one of my greatest joys. Watching a child that starts the season standing, lost, on the field to ending the season by scoring the final goal. One child, at the start wouldn't move or put the his ball on the grass, then he progressed and ran only where I ran, it became a game, then one afternoon he moved away from my side and followed the ball. The final game, the last day, in the last minute, he got a break away. Instead of stopping he ran, kicking the ball. He ran the length of the field and scored. He was so proud, the whole team cheered and his mother cried. She hugged me and said "thank you, thank you, thank you". I will never forget it, but I do not coach for the thank yous. I coach for the kids.

I am not coaching this season because of my kid, and it was a hard choice to make, and when a mother said to me,"my daughter needs you" I cried. He wanted his Dad to come to his games and that would only happen if I wasn't at the game, so I decided not to coach. But the harder lesson I learned was that my son needed someone else, not me, to be his coach. He wanted me to coach. He begged me to coach, but what happens is he becomes a goofball when I try to coach him. He has a new coach and my son is attentive, focused, and assertive during the game and practice. I skipped coaching for the love of my son and what he is getting in return is a new love for the game.