Are you scarier than a 2nd grader?

“Always do what you are afraid to do.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’ve done a few things in my life that I never thought I’d do.  Go to Africa.  Skydive.  Drive across the country alone.  I was afraid to do all of these things—but I did them anyway and have enjoyed every experience. 

It’s time for a new challenge—and I couldn’t think of anything scarier than 12 seven-year-old girls.

I started playing soccer when I was about 8 and continued playing competitively through high school.  And I have always wanted to give back—to try coaching and to get the chance to inspire kids to play soccer.  And now that I’m finally staying in one place for a while, I decided it was time to cross it off the bucket list.  Everyone’s been supportive of this decision, but also wondering if I’ve lost my mind.

You can learn a lot from team sports as a kid—but I had never really thought of how soccer may have influenced who I am today.  I played on a team one year—co-ed and I was one of two girls on the team--and oh boy did we suck.  We lost every game that season and scored only one goal.  (Scored by yours truly, of course).  But I never stopped playing.

I originally wanted to be an assistant coach for an older girls team—but got suckered into coaching second grade girls.  Our first practice was terrifying.  What do I do with a bunch of 2^nd graders while their parents watch from the side lines?  How do I show them all the rules in one practice before our first game?  How do I keep their attention for longer than 2 minutes?  What if they tie me up to the goal post and leave me for dead?

Turns out, 2^nd graders aren’t so bad.  No, they didn’t listen to me.  Yes, they threw grass on me.  No, I couldn’t remember which one was which.  Yes, they'd rather chase me than learn how to kick a ball. No, they didn’t want to share. Yes, I had to play tag with them and run under their legs. No, they did not have any clue about the rules of soccer.  Yes, I made them crawl around on the ground and act like snakes, frogs, cheetahs, and other animals. And they thought I was saying “out of balance” instead of “out of bounds”.  

I survived, but barely.

Our first game was on Sunday—against the fierce green team (we are the yellow team).  I was able to be on the field with them as half coach/half referee.  Green had two advantages—the field was slanted downhill towards our goal in the first half, and they had more players as subs (fresh legs!).  After they scored 3 fairly quick goals my team started to panic.  When I told them that it was ok that they were not winning they shrieked back, “How could this possibly be ok?!”  One girl looked at me and said, “I feel like a loser!”  Nearly broke my heart. 

So I knelt down, and asked her, “Are you playing your hardest and doing your best?”  “Yes," she assured me.  “Then you can never be a loser.”

They started to get the hang of things after that, and scored a goal not very long after (talk about an uphill battle!) -- the smiles and excitement on their faces was priceless.  

We still lost the game—but I was proud of them.  And left the game no longer terrified of 7 year olds.