We must be delusional.
Because what we most often get is rain. Or wind. Or both. We huddle under umbrellas when it's not too windy to use them, proudly wear our "team color" underneath our raincoats, and try to dry out our soggy feet in the car, while we eat lukewarm macaroni and cheese from a thermos between games.
Let me just clarify that these pictures were NOT taken yesterday. Bringing a camera was the last thing on my mind yesterday.
I thought I would be smart and just send Kerry with Wyatt because he had an early game. For whatever reason, it always seems to be 10 degrees colder at the soccer field than it is at my house.But the weather was just fine! Okay, cloudy, but no wind or rain. Wyatt's team lost, which is frustrating for reasons I won't go into, but we're focusing on being gracious winners and gracious losers, so it's a good training opportunity and he seemed to handle it well.
Gunnar and Tate's games were much later, and back to back. And the wind was rising. Gunnar's team actually plays four mini-games rather than one hour-long game. The "home" team gets to stay put, but the "away" team has to rotate from field to field. We were the "away" team. The funny thing is that the "home" teams get to choose which end of the field they want to play, and not one of the four teams we played had figured out that kicking INTO the wind is a disadvantage. Oh well, whoever said 7-year-olds were big on strategy? We'll take whatever help we can get!Gunnar did really well - played where he was supposed to play, paid attention to where the ball was, kicked it more than once at a time (!), and even had "breakaway" and would've scored... if yet another teammate hadn't enthusiastically "helped" him. *sigh* But he didn't complain :0) Nobody officially keeps score at this level, but I'm pretty sure they won 3 and either tied or won the 4th. I was a little distracted.
We went right from Gunnar's game over to Tate's field. They were playing a team that beat them two weeks ago. (Tate's team had a double-header, and played this team second.)The wind came up, the rain came down, and it was - dare I say it - MISERY! But I think Tate's team, the "Jaguars", may actually play their finest under rotten conditions. It was raining so hard, and blowing so hard, it actually felt like hail. It was hard to look into the wind. Tate never even subbed out. I'm sure he was tired, but all that running kept him warm. I've never seen him play better, and told him so :0)
They managed to finish their game, in spite of two dads having to hold down the goal the other team was defending, after it blew over twice (!), and won :0) Again, winning isn't everything, but it was fun to beat a team we had lost to, and even more fun to see the boys really playing a fine game.
Kerry managed to get a parking space right next to the field. When the rain began, we bundled Wyatt and Gunnar into the 4Runner.
By the second half of the game, Kerry joined them.
Therefore, I am presenting myself, and all the other soccer moms (including the one who wore FLIP FLOPS - you know who you are) this prestigious award:
3 comments:
so Tate does ok then, on the teams, even with the hearing problems? Its so cool for me to read that he does the sports...without having our "sit down" with the audiologist to talk about what everythings, we still don't understand what we are looking at long and short term.
good luck with that nasty weather! we have a saying out here: if you don't like the weather in new england, wait a minute. but usually the minute makes it even worse :)
All I can say is, "brrrrr! Way to go boys!" -- and yes the moms certainly do deserve that stunning gold award!
Ambulance Mommy,
Soccer is great for Tate because there isn't a lot of chatter on the field. True, he can't usually hear his coach calling instructions from the side, nor me cheering him on. And he sometimes doesn't hear the ref's whistle... although that's largely because in our community ALL the soccer fields are at one location. That means potentially THIRTY games going on at once. Most of us hearing folks can't tell which ref is blowing his whistle!
Sometimes Tate wears his FM during the games. I relay the coach's instructions and tell Tate if the ref is making a call. But... Tate gets tired of me talking in his ear, and would usually prefer NOT to use the FM in the games.
He is VERY aware, visually, of what is going on around him - always checking on the position of the ball and the other players.
Of course, then when it rains, I worry about the HA getting wet... He usually wears a "bucket hat", but it was so windy it kept blowing off! Probably should've just had him take the HA out, as it wasn't really helping him anyway.
His hearing is more of an issue at practice than at games. I take it upon myself to make sure his coach is aware of how to help him, and understand his needs. Like, if Tate's not looking AT the coach (while the coach is talking), then Tate is probably not hearing him - rather than ignoring him.
So that's a LOOONG response, but he does GREAT at soccer, and I have seen other Deaf/HoH kids playing too. One of them refs!
Oh the fun you're in for.... !
Julie
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