You just gotta laugh

Written 4/21/08

Saturday's game was...*sigh* full of passion, prayer, positivity. All 3 came from me. I think if the league season lasted a few more weeks, people would start coming to the games just to watch ME. I'm all over the place on the sidelines. I run just as much as the kids. I'm the kind of coach that runs up and down the sidelines as my team runs up and down the field. I'm the kind of coach that jumps up and down yipping not unlike a little dog. I'm the kind of coach that's as close to the white line as possible yelling/screaming/cheering until they practically pass out. Mind you, I'm not yelling out anything mean to the babies...it's all encouragement/directional stuff. It's just loud and frequent. They tune me out, though.

Now for the prayer. I'm quick to call upon the help of the Lord every time the other team is in our goal box...or we're in theirs. Lots of wrestling with major theological issues such as, "WHY!? WHY!? DIDN'T IT GO IN?" (predestination...it apparently wasn't meant to go in), and classics like, "WHY DID HE DO THAT, OH PLEASE TELL ME WWWWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!?????????", "PLEASE LET HIM STOP THE BALL, O, PLEASE PLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAASSSSSSSEEEEEEEEE, LET THE BOY STOP THE BALL!!!!!"
You'd think with all the things I've said there would be no positivity here, but there is! I am positive each game ages me by about 50 years.

Anywho, here is a funny moment from the game:
So we had one sub, and he was sitting on the bench the last I'd checked on him. The other coach and I were standing on the sideline watching the game and doing some of the aforementioned encouraging/directing. Suddenly the ref blows his whistle and motions both teams to set up for a penalty kick (PK). Someone on my team had done something. A handball in the goalie box. I looked to see who'd committed such a HORRIBLE crime (we've dedicated several minutes talking about not touching the ball with our hands). Apparently the child that was supposed to be on the bench had gotten so impassioned/fired up watching the game that he'd left the bench, run onto the field, and picked up the ball because it was very close to our goal and he wanted to help our team. At first the other coach and I said, "No hands! You're not supposed to....wait...WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON THE FIELD!!??? COME OVER HERE AND SIT BACK DOWN!!"