Tuesday's Stories

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.