Let the Games Begin!

This weekend has been a busy one for us, we have spent the days out on the dusty, wind blown soccer fields at The West Texas Blowout Soccer Tournament.  Hayden had a game Friday night at 7:30 and then two games Saturday at 11:30 and 4:40.  He lost one , tied one & won his last game.  He scored two goals!  Of course the most important part was getting a trophy.  (Little boys love trophies) 

This brings me to a couple of conversations Hayden had this last week with his coach and his dad.

Coach:  Hayden, did you eat some cockroaches today for lunch?

Hayden: NO

Coach:  Let me see your chest, do you have any chest hair?  Let me see your armpits, do you have any hair there?

Hayden:  NO

Coach:  We got to find a way to make you more aggressive on the field, we have to feed you some cockroaches or something.  We need to make you meaner.

Fast forward to a few days and some TV watching later...Kevin had the following conversation with Hayden on his way to school.

Hayden:  Dad, you know that commercial we saw yesterday that helps you grow hair?

Kevin: The Rogaine commercial?

Hayden:  Yeah, that one.  Do you think if I put Rogaine on my armpits it would grow hair on them?

Talk about commitment!  This boy is willing to do what it takes.  Can you imagine the intimidation factor to be an 8 year old boy and face a team of boys with a Donald Trump comb overs hanging out their shirts?  That might call for sleeveless uniforms! 

Probably one of the hardest things is to hear a coach yell at your kid when they are playing sports. When the weight of competing as a key player on a team is on their shoulders, I don't know that you could want them to do their best any more than you do at that moment.  It is especially hard to keep yourself in check and stay an encourager on the side lines and not get swept up in the emotion of the game.  This is particularly true when you know they are not performing at a level you know they are capable of. When they are not playing well, you so want to motivate them so they can advert the negative attention from the coach.  I know that this is part of playing sports and that he will be dealing with this as long as he plays them, but I don't know that I will ever get use to it!