Seasons of Soccer

This picture always reminds me of how much Scott loved Jaelyn and was willing to do whatever it took for her to do something she wanted to do.  

See, soccer was pretty much the only sport that Scott didn’t play when he was growing up.  He began learning the rules watching our nephew and niece play before Jaelyn began playing.  When the YMCA needed a coach for Jaelyn’s team, despite not feeling capable or confident, Scott stepped up and volunteered to coach her team.  The YMCA provided a packet of the soccer rules for their age as well as suggested drills to do in practice.  I just found that packet today when I was going through and clearing out clutter.  The packet brought to mind the conversation that Jaelyn and I had last weekend.  

We were talking about this season, her freshman year, and the challenges that she faced coming into the season - knee pain and not feeling 100% and feeling intimidated playing at the high school level.   Jaelyn has been blessed to have the opportunity to not only play Varsity as a freshman, but be on the starting line-up and play the whole game, especially in the toughest games.  I was telling her how proud I was of her and how proud her dad would have been of her.  I told her that I didn’t care if she played JV or Varsity, all that I cared about was playing her best and having a good attitude, but what I was most proud of was that when given the opportunity to play Varsity, that she took that opportunity and responsibility and rose to the occasion.  I could see her confidence and maturity grow throughout the season both on and off the field.   I could see her carrying the weight of the responsibility of being a freshman playing Varsity when many other teammates (freshman and upper classmen) did not get the same opportunity and remaining humble about it.  

I shared the story with her about her dad stepping up to coach her at the Y, even though she probably knew as much about soccer at that point as he did.  He was teaching her how to play soccer, tennis, basketball, and baseball before he died.  We talked about how different her life might look sports-wise if he hadn’t died when she was so young.  Jaelyn insisted that she wouldn’t have played basketball.  I reminded her that this might not be true, but regardless of what sport(s) she played, he would have been exceedingly proud of her.  If he was here to watch her play, he would not be the quiet parent on the sideline and I seriously doubt that he would be able to sit and watch the games.  I think that while that would have been embarrassing to her, at the same time it brought a smile to her face to think about.  

It has been bittersweet over the years watching her play and knowing how much Scott would have loved it, but this season has been especially bittersweet in watching how much she has grown and matured as a person and a player — and how he would be bursting at the seams with pride!