A Word from Soccer Practice

I wish I had the right words to adequately describe my precious, precocious, quirky P. He has the incredibly frustrating ability to appear to be completely tuned out most of the time--and yet, he often pops back into the conversation or moment when you would least expect it with truth beyond his years.

Case in point, this afternoon. We have been having a bit of a struggle with soccer. P is not much for team sports. He prefers discarded bottle caps and made up games to any sort of organized, structured play. He is also a homebody. His ideal day would be spent indoors at home reading or playing Nintendo. While we are certainly not trying to make him something he is not, my husband and I feel that exposure to lots of different activities is beneficial at this age--especially when they involve exercise and the outdoors.

Last week's soccer practice was not a behavioral highpoint for P. He was distracted, disinterested and somewhat disrespectful to his coaches and fellow players. At Saturday's game he cried and refused to play. Last night my husband and I had a long chat about how to encourage him without making him feel forced like a square peg into a round hole. We truly aren't trying to make him something he is not--we just don't want to classify him as 'disinterested in' anything at such an early age. There are important life lessons to be learned from team work, perseverance and organized, group activities.

Frankly, depending on how practice and game went this week, I was leaning towards letting him quit. My husband was steadfast in his belief that this might just be a 'hump' he needed a little help over. He reminded me of P's hesitance to learn to ride his bike. He flatly refused to try. He was content to just ride his scooter behind the pack until a recent afternoon when one-on-one attention and a bit of a push resulted in his mastery of the two wheeled bike.

After prayer and a good night's rest, my protective Mama heart deferred to the wisdom of his Daddy. Before practice, P and I discussed my expectations of his behavior--listen, participate and be respectful. My husband was working late, so I prepared myself to be the solo parent 'handling it' tonight at practice.

A beautiful thing happened (without my prompting). One of our coaches pulled P aside at the very beginning of practice and went through a few confidence inspiring drills one-on-one. Within a few minutes P was participating fully in practice. He was hustling, hanging with the other boys and smiling! I haven't seen him enjoy a team sport in years.

After practice I hugged him tight and told him how fun it was to see him participate and enjoy it.
"You played so hard, buddy. Great job!"
Without missing a beat he shrugged slightly and said, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart."
"That's exactly right, buddy!" I responded, still taking in the fact that my son had just quoted Scripture to me in a life application as opposed to a memory drill. "Is that what Coach Robinson told you before practice?"
"No, I just remembered it from Vacation Bible School," he replied.

Oh the joy of having the Word of God hidden away in little hearts! What a blessing to see God working to remind them of truth as it applies to their lives. I am blown away.