A Moment in My Shoes: What I did this weekend ...

So, this past weekend Tyler played in a soccer tournament ... It was not his first tournament and it certainly won't be his last tournament. And at the end of the day it is just a 10 year old soccer game. However, in one 60 min game, there were so many life lessons taught that I had to finally reflect back on it.

Let me first set the stage. Tyler's team played Friday night, they won... they played two games on Saturday and they also won both of those. In the span of those 3 games there was some questionable calls made by the referee's but not enough to cause concern. In those 3 games Tyler's team allowed a total of 3 goals while scoring 8. They were playing well and getting along, the coach corrected them when need be and let them play when they were doing fine.

Sunday comes and Tyler is beyond excited, he gets to play goal keeper for 1/2 and just for the chance for 1st place he couldn't be happier. The game starts out with a very clear hand ball on the other team and the ref says to plan on ... after a very tense 1st half the game is tied. Many questionable non calls and missed calls, where the side judge would hold up her flag and signal for either a kick or throw in and the center ref would miss it. The second 1/2 comes around and the ball very clearly goes out of bounds on the coaches side, both coaches saw it, the side ref called it and many of the players stopped playing because of it. However, the ball came back into play on its own the other team continued play and scored a goal. Tyler's coach was very adamant that the goal shouldn't count and side ref agreed, however, the center ref said that he didn't see it, so the goal counts. Tyler's team played very well, poured on the pressure, just the ball didn't bounce for them. So the end of the game came and the boys lost 0-1. After many tears, the sideline judge apologizing to the parents and an upset coach I decided to use this as a learning experience. Some of the kids cried together and further bonded, many of them told each other 'good game' and then there was that one kid (ok 2) ... The lessons I chose to teach Tyler out of this whole deal ...

1 -- A ref can not win or loose a game for you ... you have to roll with the punches and rise up no matter what the ref does. There will always be questionable ref's in every sport at every level.
2 -- Tyler, being one of the kids that slowed down during the 1 play, I told him to always play the whistle. I don't care if the ball is out of bounds or not, you play until the ref blows the whistle..
3 -- Your coach arguing with the ref was a sheer display of passion for the game and someone fighting for you ... It always feels good when some defends your actions and it is even better when you have a coach that believes in you.
4 -- Always, always, always support your team mates. There will always be a play in the game when every single kid makes a mistake. You fight to make up that mistake and then you encourage for next time. Never ever ever call out their mistakes. You let the coach do that.

Before the game ... The teams... It was like Christmas on the field.

In other news ... Lou, Brooke and I, along with some friends, ran the Hot Chocolate Race this weekend. It was quite fun actually ... here are some pictures.