The Bear gave basketball a chance. The girl has a bit of game, she does, but she’d tell you straightaway that hoops isn’t her cup o’ tea. She did the floor hockey thing too, but looked, let’s just say, bewildered out on the court with a plastic stick in her hands. And she never saw the end of that free trail karate class.
Meanwhile, the Mouse has never once tried her hand at organized sport. That all changed yesterday, sort of. She still hasn’t tried her hand, but with her feet she is well on her way to becoming the next great American soccer star she’s destined to be an adorable lil’ footballer. She started a 6-week instructional community rec course that will run on Saturdays through mid-May, and was also picked in the lottery for intramural soccer at school taking place on four afternoons over the next couple of weeks. Into the fire she goes! Mouse will either love or hate the sport come May. There will likely be no middle ground here.
Did I mention her coach is a Brit? And a Tottenham Hotspur fan? [swoon] It seems like everyone I meet who fancies a bit of the football is a Spurs fan. Odd. We chatted for a bit before and after practice, mutually lamenting Spurs perennial end-of-season free fall. A real nice bloke, and he complimented the Mouse on her dribbling, ability to stay on task, and follow directions (something she is nearly always honored for outside the home, by adults not named Mom and Dad.)
All of her 5-year-old excitement about the beautiful game dovetails nicely with the launch of the NWSL, the latest professional women’s soccer league which also began yesterday, coincidentally enough. While Philly doesn’t have one of the 8 franchises, the Baltimore/DC area does and we’ll hope to catch a match during one of our next trips south. I think it would be important to foster her appreciate of the game if she could watch it played by members of her own gender, live and in person, and not only on TV, and by undersized Spaniards.
Some dads, especially those with an intense passion for sports, might be less than pleased with his offspring showing an equally intense lack of desire to compete in either an organized team activity or a solo sport, but not me. I don’t strive to be THAT dad, the one who pushes his kids to take on a commitment for something they don’t feel in their heart. I also have no need to live out my sporting dreams through them and their on field accomplishments. That said, I still offer sporting opportunities from time to time because I cannot tell exactly when or if their attitude or interests have changed.
I’d be lying if I said that didn’t beam a little when the Mouse said yes to soccer this time around. And it was a giddy yes too. And the Bear, she greenlighted a 3-hour Picasso mixed media art class that goes down next Sunday afternoon. These are huge steps for two relatively timid children, and the best part is that they are entering into new challenges and stepping out of their comfort zones of their own accord. Of course it matters not whether the Mouse continues along a footy track or if the Bear ever wants to sculpt again. They are both stretching and molding themselves every single day and I am glad to gently and innocuously present new opportunities for them to decide upon.
