dodgerblew
Team RC
A little background...My son is 14 and started playing soccer when he was 4. It was obvious when he was a little kid that he was very athletic. By the time he was 6 we had him playing with 9 and 10 yr olds and by 8 we had him playing club league and tournaments. He's also a good baseball player so by the time he was 8, he was playing both soccer and baseball year round, many weekends driving to do both on same and/or different days. When he was 9 his coach asked him to play goalkeeper because our team lacked a good one and kids normally don't want to play the position, but my kid said ok. By 11, he had the best goals against average in SoCal and his team had an undefeated season.
At the biggest SoCal tournament, which lasts 4 weeks, 5 minutes before the start of the game, my sons coach benched him and didn't give him a reason. He said he was going on instinct! My kid sat on the sidelines and watched while his team went 0 and 3 and was eliminated on the first weekend. My son was crushed, he didn't know what he did wrong and wasn't given an explanation, so he just figured he wasn't good enough. I made him hang in there all weekend and be a team guy, wipe away the tears and just suck it up, when I wanted to beat the coach to a pulp. When they lost that 3rd game and we were leaving, the kid started cryin' his eyes out and said he NEVER wanted to play soccer again. His mom and I tried to explain that the game didn't hurt him, a man did, so it would be wrong to blame soccer, but we understood and that if he wanted a break from soccer, take it and have fun with baseball. I found out the next day that he was benched because spring baseball was starting the next week and he wanted someone more committed to soccer. When I told the coach he crushed the kid and that he doesn't want anything to do with soccer after the humiliation, the coach kicked him off the team. Several teams contacted us about wanting him to join them and he said no to all. He hasn't touched a soccer ball in just shy of 3 yrs.
He concentrated on baseball and grew in the sport to where now he is training on a St. Louis Cardinals scout team and is preparing for the junior olympics in June in Arizona.
He's a freshman now at our high school in Quartz Hill where we live. Its a school that 5 yrs ago won the CIF championship in soccer and a year or two later won the baseball championship. Its a competitive place to play. About 3 weeks ago he told me he wanted me to go to a soccer meeting because he was going to tryout for the JV team. I just shook my head and told him that would not be an easy thing to do, reminding him of how long he hasn't played and that all the kids that tryout have played year round the last 3 yrs and that there will be 30+ freshman trying out for less then a dozen spots. I told him not to be to disappointed if it didn't work out. He said he didn't care, the running would be good training for baseball. Tryouts started last Thursday through today.
He made the JV squad. Only 10 freshmen got picked up and he was one of them. I'm so proud of him.
At the biggest SoCal tournament, which lasts 4 weeks, 5 minutes before the start of the game, my sons coach benched him and didn't give him a reason. He said he was going on instinct! My kid sat on the sidelines and watched while his team went 0 and 3 and was eliminated on the first weekend. My son was crushed, he didn't know what he did wrong and wasn't given an explanation, so he just figured he wasn't good enough. I made him hang in there all weekend and be a team guy, wipe away the tears and just suck it up, when I wanted to beat the coach to a pulp. When they lost that 3rd game and we were leaving, the kid started cryin' his eyes out and said he NEVER wanted to play soccer again. His mom and I tried to explain that the game didn't hurt him, a man did, so it would be wrong to blame soccer, but we understood and that if he wanted a break from soccer, take it and have fun with baseball. I found out the next day that he was benched because spring baseball was starting the next week and he wanted someone more committed to soccer. When I told the coach he crushed the kid and that he doesn't want anything to do with soccer after the humiliation, the coach kicked him off the team. Several teams contacted us about wanting him to join them and he said no to all. He hasn't touched a soccer ball in just shy of 3 yrs.
He concentrated on baseball and grew in the sport to where now he is training on a St. Louis Cardinals scout team and is preparing for the junior olympics in June in Arizona.
He's a freshman now at our high school in Quartz Hill where we live. Its a school that 5 yrs ago won the CIF championship in soccer and a year or two later won the baseball championship. Its a competitive place to play. About 3 weeks ago he told me he wanted me to go to a soccer meeting because he was going to tryout for the JV team. I just shook my head and told him that would not be an easy thing to do, reminding him of how long he hasn't played and that all the kids that tryout have played year round the last 3 yrs and that there will be 30+ freshman trying out for less then a dozen spots. I told him not to be to disappointed if it didn't work out. He said he didn't care, the running would be good training for baseball. Tryouts started last Thursday through today.
He made the JV squad. Only 10 freshmen got picked up and he was one of them. I'm so proud of him.
