Soccer Bit..., er, Mom

My daughter's soccer team, about which I have posted many times, had their third game of the fall season this past saturday. Good news: They won, 7-6! (Go Butterflies!!!)

All of the girls played hard & well, used strategy (a new thing for them), played fair, were uncomplaining, and most importantly, they all seemed to have a good time.

At the end of the game, there were smiles and high-fives all around... or so I thought. While I was talking to one of the girls, her mother approached the coach (I'm the assistant coach) to complain that her daughter only played three minutes in the first half of the game, and that she didn't like the way substitutions were made (I make the substitutions), and that some girls got more time on field than others, and blah blah blah.

I didn't know about this until after the conversation was over. The coach mentioned it to me and told me that she didn't want to include me in the conversation because she knew I would have had a lot of fairly sharp things to say. She was right.

First things first. This poor child has got some serious developmental problems as a result of having fetal alcohol syndrome as an infant, having severe ADHD, and parents that won't/can't control their children (she has four siblings, all with similar problems). I mention this, because this child is a good kid, but because of her issues, she absorbs about 60 percent of my time during practice... when her mother can bother to bring her (which is only about half the time).

Her mother, when she comes to practice, uses the time to either nap in a lawn chair or natter on with the other moms. This mom/child frequently miss practice.

This child frequently refuses to run. I understand her issues, but in fairness to the other players, soccer requires a certain amount of wind. You can't play soccer if you can't run up and down the field.

I played that kid for 5 minutes in the first half and for 14 in the second. She had 19 minutes out of 48, in those 19 minutes, she did as well as she could be expected to do.

The other girls were plated for what their best levels were... my own kid, for example, got 22 minutes of playing time. She has great wind, but really doesn't like the physical confrontation of soccer, she can score goals, but only sometimes. Another kid, we'll call Karen, is a real gazelle, she can run, dribble, and shoot. She had three goals this week. She got 30 minutes.

My point here is that all of the girls get to play, from the one that is really good all the way to the ones that really suck (out of 8 girls, only 5 of them really have much of a clue). I play them according to their skills, abilities, and whether or not the came to practice the week of the game. Why should the kids that make a commitment suffer?

It was a great morning of soccer, ruined.

I was really bothered the rest of the day, because xxxxxxx played so well. She really did.

I decided that I would speak to the mom about it, but when we had practice last night, I found that I couldn't. I was still too irritated. Probably best to let it go... unless it happens again.