In the words of George Michael, "you gotta have faith".

You only get one first time for everything. Today, for the first time, little Al started our morning prayer by herself as we were pulling out of the driveway. For nearly seven years, I have been driving one of our little girls to the Early Education Center at St. Therese and during that time we have said the same prayer every morning. It's a prayer my mom and I made up when I was just a little kid and I have been saying it religiously since that time. 

I am no different than you. I struggle with faith and belief and religion and will do so until the day I die and that's okay. At the same time I believe it's my responsibility to teach my children that prayer can be an important part of their lives. Not a crutch to use when you feel weak but a tool you can use to focus on the positives in our lives and not the negatives. One line from our prayer is this, "thank you God for our blessings, for our home, our food, our clothes, our health we are very fortunate and understand that there are many people out there who don't have these things, and need help." 

I guess what I'm trying to do is provide some perspective into what prayer can be and how it can keep us centered and grounded. It doesn't always work. Last week Ruby told me that we only do "free" stuff. Talk about a shot in the gut. She's no dummy and at six years old can already see the differences between people economically. My kids have no needs that go unmet, but they certainly have wants that do. I'm okay with that. 

I have faith that if I can instill in my kids an attitude of gratitude then, as the cultural influences that I can't control that are blasted repeatedly into their consciousness, they have the foundation in giving thanks and not in asking for more. I have faith in that. 

Coaching U7 Girls Soccer

Three games deep into the early season of soccer and my head is exploding from rapid learning and improvement that we are making. The difference in a few of my players from game one to game three is staggering. For the first time in a few years I have a girl who is brand new to the game. Meaning she has NEVER played organized soccer before. While I confess I was a bit nervous having a relative novice on the team who potentially might make mistakes that lead to goals against us my fears have been assuaged. I understand that rediculous to think that parents or other players on the team might get upset if someone messes up but these kids care. I have kids who WANT to play defense instead of trying to score goals because they believe they can stop anyone from scoring. Think about that for a minute. I have numerous kids who truly believe they can influence the game and help us win by playing defense. If you asked 100 seven year olds how they can win a soccer game I bet 95 of them would say by scoring the most goals and five would say by not letting any go in against us. I have almost five of those girls on a team of eleven.

As much as I would like to, I can't take credit for that but what I can take credit for is increasing the level of enthusiasm for defense. If one of the kids is in the back and doesn't allow anyone to score of get by them for the half a quarter they are on defense we celebrate it like they just scored a goal. We and this includes the other main coach and the parents yell just as loud for a strong defensive play as we do for a goal. That is the key. If all the love and glory goes to the strikers you are going to have team of wannabe strikers. If you can get them excited to get the ball out of your end or make a pass out to a teammate then when you ask who wants to play defense you get five hands up instead of no hands up.

These girls bring it. 

Ready, Get Set, Go!

After nearly three months of practicing, kicking the ball in the side yard, going to SportingKC games and generally jonesing for the games to start we kicked off the U7 season in style on Saturday morning. I say in style because the girls are all matching for the first time ever. My Bad News Bears outfitting normally leads to us wearing three different types of white jerseys with varying shorts and socks that look straight out of Helen Keller's drawers. Not this year. All eleven girls are wearing matching tops, matching shorts, and all different numbers. After two years of trying I've finally learned how to successful iron on jersey numbers without messing them up. Ruby no longer has to wear a jersey with what appears or is a backwards two.

"What number is that Dad, she asks?"
"That's a five Ruby."
"Are you sure? I think it's supposed to be a two and you did it wrong."
"Didn't you have a bad vision test last time?"
"You messed up Dad and I have to wear that one again."

That's normally how that discussion goes. Not this fall, we are looking good. We are playing good too. Like most leagues it was a little mismanaged at first. We are supposed to play 4v4 with no goalie and the coaches on the sideline. Somehow the game before us was 4v4 with goalies and the coaches on the field. The other coach and I asked if we could go without the goalie and be on the field. That sounded great to me. While I trust they will be in the right places a little extra coaching doesn't hurt. We needed that extra coaching as well. It took us about a quarter to shake the rust off and remember how to play. We were losing 2-1 at the end of the first quarter and for once I played it cool. I mentioned we need to do a better job of staying in our positions and that somebody, anybody has to at least attempt to play defense. You see, the glory of goal scoring has infiltrated my entire team. I only have two girls who want to play defense, my daughter and my defensive powerhouse Anna. My daughter only wants to play it because she thinks no one can score when she is back there so she does it only because she sees believes we won't lose. Anna on the other hand actually loves commanding the back half of the field. She loves to slam the ball with huge kicks and defense affords her that opportunity. Anyway, by the end of the second quarter we were winning 3-2 I believe.

Halftime! Hot damn you would never thought these girls had eaten a orange wedge in their lives. This is the first year where we actually have a five minute halftime so we are introducing the halftime snack into the game. Orange wedges were the traditional halftime snack of my youth and being the first snack bringer I wanted to keep that alive. They mowed them down like a Bin Laden Headshot at the air rifle booth during Parkville Days. One girl looked at me wide eyed while chowing down and said, "coach Ben where did you get these oranges?" She was completely flabbergasted. Like in all of her seven years on the planet she had never tasted an orange that was so good. I was like, "Sun Fresh."

Oh behold the power of something new and a little natural sugar. They came out like their hair was on fire. When the final whistle blew we had tallied nine goals to four. It could have been worse but we called off the dogs as best we could. My wife could see me beaming before the game was even over. The girls managed to make at least five assists on those goals and the only mistake we had was of my doing and it was so the other team could get the ball back.

I could go on and on but practice and consistency is paying off. I love these kids.