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Tuesday's Stories

6/27/2012

4 Comments

 
We had some great stories shared in large group Tuesday night. If you have a story that wasn't shared, be sure to share us your story by adding a comment at the end of this blog post. All stories that are shared will be entered into a raffle to win a gift certificate to JP Licks. 

Nomi – Assistant Coach & Curriculum,
Blue Division
“Yesterday we had this girl named Flora* who wasn’t really participating at all. I think she was convinced that she wouldn’t have fun. Actually, she had three people go and talk to her. She was just sitting in the corner the whole time. Today, she came in and was really enthusiastic, tried really hard, and she did really well.”

Tobias – Assistant Coach, Green Division
“There was a girl in our group who was really shy yesterday. But today she showed up, and was doing great on defense, and kicked a dozen balls.  She was really energetic, and gave a lot of high-fives. I talked to her mom, and her mom said that she made her daughter come yesterday, and her daughter was disappointed. Today, her daughter wanted to come to Soccer Nights. It was really exciting for her mom to see the change."

Nicholas – Assistant Coach & Curriculum, Red Division
“Yesterday at the scrimmage, my team had no defense, and was doing a lot of handball. But, today before the scrimmage, our great coach, Bassim, said that we needed to organize a defense, and talked to our team why handball is bad. Today we had defense, and it really worked out. There was even a lot less handball going on.”



Alex – Assistant Coach, Red Division
“At the end of the day, I asked this boy how his day went on a scale of 1-10. He said 5. He said that the scrimmage was good, but the food---I was expecting cake!”

Melissa – Assistant Coach, Red Division
“We had a little girl named, Marta who wasn’t doing really great at dribbling. She was crying, and so I went over to console her. While I was talking to her another girl came up, Marie, and she put her hand on Marta’s shoulder and asked her ‘Do you need a hug? If you want to team up with me, I can help you.’ I told Marie, ‘I want a hug!’ and Marie said, ‘Just wait one second..’”

Julia – Team Coach, Orange Division
“At the end of the scrimmage, the kids were doing well, getting really competitive, and subbing out really well. The game was tied, but there was this goal that my team got, and I didn’t give it to them because they weren’t listening to the whistle blow. So they were just discouraged when they didn’t win (it was just a tie!). I was trying to pump them up and get them excited, and the whole idea of ‘good sportsmanship’ was really great. I got them to line up behind each other and do the hand-slapping thing with the other team. They got really into it. I got the girls to join first, and then the boys followed. Other teams started to do it, too. And then we had fun in our line and did silly things, like have a congo line. It seemed like team unity all of a sudden.”

Brooke -- 3-5 Year Olds
“What was really cool about tonight was that we had a couple of kids who only spoke Spanish. One of the volunteers came up to me, and said that they had a few kids who only spoke Spanish, and so I went to go talk to them. It was really cool because I got to know their name and where they’re from (but one just really wanted to play soccer). It was cool because some of the other kids came around, and I was able to translate. Some of the kids actually spoke Spanish or understood, and made the connection, and if they didn't understand Spanish, they still understood the game of soccer."

Michaiah – Parent Leader
“I think what was really cool about tonight was that we had a lot of parents who wanted to jump in and participate. We had about 7 or so coaches and assistant coaches who were really into it. Hurray!”

Brian – Coaching Director
“This is my 4th year, we’ve never been able to get dads to coach.  And then tonight 7 of them put on shirts and began to coach. It almost broke my heart. It was amazing! We’ve never had any real connection in that area, but to have 7 dads come out and volunteer!  ...And another dad said he was going to come out and volunteer tomorrow. It was just amazing.”



*All the names of children have been changed. 
4 Comments
Bassim Ibrahim
6/27/2012 05:49:34 am

This story has a good lesson for all the dudes like myself who are out there coaching... One of the first graders on my team is named Johannes. Johannes didn't pick up dribbling too well during drill time. He preferred to kick the ball as far as he could and then run after it. Looking back, I wish I did a better job teaching Johannes how to dribble before I paired up with him to do the wicket drill. All my other kids were paired up with each other so I was left with Johannes being the dribbler and me being the wicket (standing still with my legs spread out so the ball can be dribbled through my legs). Johannes was just 5 yards away from me before we started. I was focusing on all the other kids when I blew the whistle to start the drill. As I was watching all the other kids, Johannes took 3 or 4 large strides before striking the ball as hard as he could in the rather unfortunate direction of my private area. I had to turn away in pain and sit out for a good two minutes as my able bodied assistant coach Nicholas took over and filled in admirably. There are 2 morals to this story: 1) Do not under any circumstance play the wicket game with a kid who does not properly understand the concept of dribbling and 2) if you are an assistant coach, always be on your toes and ready to step up. You never know when your coach can get temporarily disabled and you need to take his place!

Reply
Steph
6/27/2012 05:55:07 am

A. Best story ever
B. glad we had you sign that consent and liability form
C. Go for the gold!

Reply
Christine
6/27/2012 08:36:08 am

Yesterday I was privileged to witness some members of the blue division sweetly cheering on their teammates during the scrimmage. 5 or 6 kids on the sideline (who I'm sure would much rather be PLAYING - it is, after all, every kid's favorite part of the evening) chanting for others while they waited their turn to play. It seems that this happens every year but it's still so heart-warming to see these darlings choose to be encouraging rather than wallow in the despair of not playing.

Reply
Sarah
6/27/2012 09:24:06 am

Tuesday night was such a challenging but rewarding night. With more kids arriving and learning the lesson from Monday, it became more difficult to teach every kid. I felt overwhelmed at times but realized that if would be great if kids from Monday night helped the new kids arriving Tuesday. I chose one student who I will call M. M is always getting into something, not pay attention or giving negative comments to his other teammates. I asked M to be a leader and go for the gold. M liked being a leader and quickly turned his negative behavior to a positive one. M taught the team how to dribble with the soccer ball. This was a difficult skill and many of the kids just ran into each other. Without the help of M, I do not think the night would have been a success. M truly gets a gold medal from me and the team.

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