Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Soccer Games and Pizza Parties

One can not plan their schedule in the Spring when your plans are dependent on good weather. Needless to say, the Yellow Bugs were supposed to wrap up their season this past Saturday but mother nature rained us out about a month ago, meaning this coming Saturday is our last game.  Why any of this is relevant surrounds the fact that all sporting seasons must be ended with a pizza party of some kind.  My wife started hounding me (and by hounding I mean whispering sweet nothings repeatedly in my ear while sending me countless emails) after the first game to arrange a time for an end of season party.  I must confess, I would much rather focus on coaching but the extracurriculars are as much a part of coaching as the X's and O's.

The plan was set for Pizza Shoppe after our last game for a little post game fun and hopefully a little bonding by the girls. None of them are in the same classes at the same school, but my grandiose visions, has them playing together for years so why not facilitate friendship now. To digress, we did play the best game of the season last Saturday. The other team was very well coached, another Dad not a college kid, and his team seemed to get it. At one point the ball went from our end to there end, follow by a shot by us, which was deflected and taken all the way back to our end. Then, our team actually put a couple of passes together and it went to their end.  Continuous, end to end action which was pretty impressive. You could actually hear parents on both teams talking about how impressive it was.  Our string of domination did continue with Ruby and my German striker scoring about six goals. After the game, I handed out medals to a couple girls who were unable to join us for the pizza party and their certificates.

Certificates? That's right, certificates. Thanks to Microsoft word and awards templates, I was able to make a certificate for each kid.  These were not your, you did a good job, here is a piece of paper awards.  I tried to personalize each one with a funny message.  For instance, Ruby got the "Best Choice of Outfits and Accessories" Award for her ability to go with different headbands and earring choices for each game. After the kids had ate pizza and cake (again my wife told me to get a cake and have them put "Go Yellow Bugs" on it) I presented the medals to the kids and their awards. While I think the kids appreciated them and thought they were cool, it's the parents who appreciate the extra effort.  In a nutshell that is what I think the difference between being a good coach and being a great one, extra effort. Luckily for me, I have a wife who is in turn with all things kid related (she's a first grade teacher) and I love sports. A winning combination.



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