Soccer Solution

Last fall we had a huge issue with the soccer program.  If you want the complete, painful, day to day drama it is posted on these dates:

• 10/27/07 ~ Am I Out of Line?!
• 10/29/07 ~ League Director Response to Incident
• 11/11/07 ~ Update on our Soccer fiasco
• 11/18/07 ~ Progress on Soccer Issue

Sorta quick recap:  Rachel used to do ballet.  She was fantastic at it but she hated it.  She asked me when she was 6 if she could play soccer and quit ballet.  I want her to enjoy her activities so I let her make the switch.  She isn’t that great at soccer but she totally loves it.  I like our program because every child has to play 50% of the game despite ability.  We had a tournament last fall.  It was the girls & coaches first tournament.  We were not told that the girls would be played by ability for the tournament.  When Rachel was only played for a few minutes we got really upset and Rachel felt bad.  We discussed it with the coach who essentially blew us off.  We went to the tournament director who sent us to our area director.  We chalked it up to lack of communication but the coaches never apologized.  The area director and tournament director did but not one of the 3 coaches ever did.  During Christmas break we even saw one who gave us the evil eye. 

The Solution

The area director called me at the end of January like she promised.  She had enough players to make a new team but there was no room on it for Rachel.  Rachel would have to stay where she was but the area director would keep on eye on it since she was coaching this new team. 

I told her that we would have to pull Rachel from the team.  Kevin and I were not comfortable around those women.  Not one of them apologized, called to inquire on Rachel when she didn’t return to finish the season, nothing.  Then we got the evil eye from the one coach on top of all that.

The area director was understanding.  Because we had paid for the spring season she didn’t want us pulling Rachel. The rosters weren’t official yet so she switched one of the older girls from the new team with Rachel.   This team is a group of girls who have never played soccer before.  With Rachel not being the greatest in the sport, her experience could give her a leg up and may help boost her confidence. 

Though now I feel obligated to be team mom or something because this woman has been incredibly understanding and helpful through out this entire situation.  I won’t this season because of recovering from the hysterectomy unless there is something that isn’t time consuming or physical.

Kevin is a little upset because the time of the practices really don’t fit in our schedule, but after all the stuff that we have dealt with to get to this place I don’t care.  I will make it work.   Think I can get some prayers that her dad will be willing to help out.

Side note:  Kevin is not Rachel’s bio dad.  We are a blended family so the oldest two kids are Kevin’s and the youngest two are mine.  We are the custodial parent for all 4 kids.  Though at this time Rachel is the only one of the four that has a continuous relationship with her other parent. Despite that Rachel does see Kevin as much as a father as her own bio dad. She trusts and respects him more because her father is an alcoholic who won’t recover.