soccer people suck

Aug. 16, 2006 - 10:44 am

Ye gods... I am in a quandary.

After last year's soccer fiasco, where I coached *both* of my Boys teams, I swore I wouldn't do it again. It was really tough, and only doable due to the fact that Sean's U6 team was a once-a-week practice thing, with basically teaching them how to throw in the ball and "kick it that way." Connor's U12 team was quite a bit more; there were some damn good kids on that team.

So this year, I asked Connor if I could *not* coach his team... he moved up to the "U14" league, and most of those kids are going to be better than my ability to coach them. I figured one of the other parents whose kids had been playing since before they could walk would be much better at it. It sure didn't seem right to both coach Sean's team *and* be his scout leader, while doing nothing for Connor (since he quit Boy Scouts), but I couldn't figure out a way around it. He understood, or at least said he did.

A couple weeks ago, after I received Sean's roster, Connor said he wished I was coaching his team. So of course I felt like crap (which was not his intent, I am sure). But I had already made my commitment to Sean's team.

So I hadn't received any calls about when Connor's practices were, until Sunday... parents meeting last night. Ominous, since the call came from the league office (according to my caller ID). The meeting was, of course, because he had no coach. Along with 20 other teams.

So here I am... with only 6 of the 11 parents (including myself), two of whom work 2 jobs, including game day (Saturday), and myself, who is already coaching a team. The three others naturally stood around with their thumbs up their asses and didn't step up... most of the parents think this is a drop your kid off and go type thing, so of course having *more* responsibilities is an anathema to them. Just no go. Except for one guy who said he'd "assistant coach" since he had never done it before. Hey; me neither before last year, pal.

I had to leave in order to get to Sean's scout meeting, so I left a business card with one of the parents I knew from last year (one of the double- job workers... nice guy) to let me know what was up and had been decided upon. I don't hold out a lot of hope that Connor will be playing this year unless I coach his team.

The league person doing the "negotiating" tried to convince me to dump Sean's team and coach Connor's, but if I did that then they would be in the opposite boat, with no one to coach the U8 team. I don't want to do that either.

Connor would appreciate it more, I know. It would be more work, and I can't do *everything.* I don't even have a team mom for Seans' team, so I can't expect anyone to step up for even MORE work in being the coach.

I pick them up tonight as Kathy has a late meeting, and will drop them off at her place, which is walking distance from the park where Sean's team practices. I'll talk to them both, I guess, and dig up that parent's number to see what happened. I volunteered to help out as much as possible, but the "assistant coach" guy still wouldn't step the rest of the way up.

I really, really can't do everything. I'm having that issue in Scouts, trying to do everything myself.