Freaking Out About Sports

Saturday is soccer day for us. And it's a lot of fun. I mentioned before about TD's theatrics on the field. Over the season she's really grown and is now pretty focussed out there. She rarely looks over at the spectators now, unless she's scored a goal. Her eyes are on the ball and usually her feet too. Her team is doing so well and we have a blast cheering them on.

Then there's LMH's team. They struggled for the better part of the season, as a team. But last week things clicked together and it's been so much less stressful to watch them. As for LMH herself, she's been playing awesome. Her mind is in the game and she really has good control of the ball. The difference in her own playing personally is dramatic from last year to this one and even since last season (Fall). She has even scored two goals during each of the last two games. Now she's working hard on pulling off a hat trick like her sister did earlier on in the season. Even if she doesn't, I'm pretty proud of her.

But I'm also focused on the team as a whole, so I've been watching them all improve at their teamwork and not really paying as close attention to LMH. On the weeks the team did poorly Grandma had to remind me that LMH played terrifically. So you can imagine my surprise this week when her coach told us that a club team coach had scouted her out during the game.

Who? Our daughter? Being recruited? I thought this stuff only happened on TV and in the movies. Then again, I know where screenwriters get their material - from real life. Just not my real life. I was shell-shocked. She's only eight. I'd already thrown away the traveling team information because we're not ready to get that involved. Still this club didn't sound as intense. Maybe she should try it.

It's a tough call for us. We're not hyper sports parents. We want our kids to get a chance to try things out. And we applaud their success and like to see them excel. But we don't push it. It's more about having fun. Yet, when an opportunity like this arises...

Well, I don't know. It may be even more fun for her to play with a group of kids with stronger skills. But I still wouldn't want to get too hung up on it all and sucked into spending tons of hours every week on soccer. Doesn't sound like it, but we'll see. I'm just not used to having stuff like this happen. As a kid I usually went along my mediocre way without getting noticed and life was fine. This seems like a whole different ball game. And... Well, if you can't tell, I'm freaking out about it.