Hey Coach - F*** You

There is nothing I cherish more in this world then my children. If you ever want to see a mama bear protect their cubs, just try and mess with my kids.

K plays on our towns travel soccer team. The one thing I made sure of is that this was supposed to be fun. I know there are towns around here that take soccer very seriously. I could write another post about what I think about that. The general gist is that I want her out there, working as a team and performing to the best of her ability.

K had a game Saturday morning. Friday night she had a practice and I commented to Steve the coach seemed a bit pissy to me. He tells us all to have the kids there 1/2 hour before the game. I thought that was a bit much, but whatever. We get there and the kids proceed to just stand around for the 1/2 hour. Okey dokey. The other team was very good and dominated the game, yet we only lost 2-0. Again, it isn't about the winning, K was out there smiling and having fun so my goal was met.

As we packed up our stuff, K was walking towards us and I could tell something was up. She was livid. She looked at me and said "You said this was supposed to be fun and I would never be yelled at. Coach just yelled at the whole team, told us we were awful and that is the worst he has ever seen us play!". As the tears streamed down her face, she told us the coach then told them all to go sit on the bench and he walked off the field.

At that point, I am looking for that coach. He is darn lucky I didn't find him. I did call him later and am totally bummed he called back when I wasn't home because that means he got to talk to S. Since S is a man, I don't think he gets my deal with all of this. The coach pretty much denied everything K told us even though 2 other kids confirmed what happened.

My point is, I don't want my kids to let anyone break their spirit. I asked K if she agreed with the coach's assessment of the game. She said she felt they did do some good things. I told her next time, she should speak up. I want my kids to have spunk and not be afraid to disagree (respectfully of course). But I warned S, if need be, I will teach her to tell that coach to f*** off in so many words.

Tonight was the kicker. Apparently coach didn't get the real gist of S' conversation with him. Our point was that he should never yell at the kids. There are much better ways to deliver constuctive critism. K gets home from practice tonigh and talks about how the coach gave them a speech. He told them, the next time he yells at them, they just need to play better. Oy!