Coach Brad

Dimples plays soccer, and he plays it well. Today, I filled in for his coach who was out of town. I paced the sidelines and barked out orders to the players. I stayed positive for the majority of the time, but I did have a lapse. I will start at the beginning of the story. In the under 8 league you have four players on the field and you are not allowed to have a goalie. This is makes it so that the players learn the basic skills of soccer and don't get pegged in any certain positions before they are out of early elementary school. I agree with these rules. They also have a semicircle in front of each goal. If the defense touches the ball inside that circle it is a goal. If the offense touches the ball in the circle it is a goal kick not a goal. So the team that we played today stationed a player just outside of the line in front of the goal the entire game. For those of you who are not familiar with soccer, that is a goalie. The twelve year old ref did not instruct the coach to not do this. I understand, he is twelve, and the coach for the other team was Satan's wife. I would avoid any contact with her also for fear of my face melting. This is the natural reaction of human flesh after exposure to pure evil. Anyway, their illegal goalie was behind the line almost the entire game after repeated shot attempts by our players. No call. Twice in the second half our player kicked the ball out of bounds when the ball was inside the circle. The ball was not going into the goal either time. Both times a goal was awarded to the other team. The second time I looked at the ref and said you have go to be kidding. The parents also stood up and said not nice things. I don't know what they said but it was not uplifting. I feel ashamed now. That ref should have called the game differently, but both calls that he made were technically correct. My frustration is that the other team violated the spirit of the rules the whole game and was never called on it, and my team violated some technical aspects of the rules and were punished. But, he was twelve, or close to that age. We don't keep score. (the kids do though) I often judge coaches who get to involved in the game in our league, but I suppose I should not judge so quickly. I will do better next time.

On a lighter side, I saw a bumper sticker the other day that read:
What if the hokey pokey IS what it's all about?
That makes me laugh.

I also go a job offer yesterday. It was for $6.00 an hour less than what I am making. $6.00 an hour is more than most teachers make. Just ask my wife.