A Soccer Family

Soccer in our family runs deep. For a few years all four kids played soccer. It was crazy hectic with all of the different soccer practices, games, and coaches. Many times the kids would have overlapping practice schedules or game schedules and would require us utilizing another family to take one of the kids to practice (or sometimes vice versa when their family needed help with a ride). Because a lot of us had multiple children that were around the same age it was not unheard of for two of my kids to have sibling friends on their respective teams. This meant that our families would inadvertently spend a lot of time together season in and season out. As time went on a group of us became close. Most of these families were centered around Josh's team. This could be because Josh played with the same group of boys since he was 6. One of the boys, his best friend Logan, he began playing with when he was 4. Our soccer friends hung out together on occasion away from soccer and did things such a camp together. (Although our family only camped once with them due to scheduling conflicts the others camped multiple times together.) Over time we became family. We learned to depend on one another, lean  on one another, play with one another, and laugh with one another. Just like in a family, some of us were closer than others. And sometimes there were squabbles among members. Some families chose to leave to purse other ventures for their children as the years passed, but for the most part we stayed together as one unit with all of the dysfunction that a normal family has.

I loved my soccer family. A lot. I still do. Perhaps because this was my first soccer family I will always cherish this group of people. Perhaps because I just love the people they were/are I would have loved them this much if they hadn't been my first soccer family. I will never know the answer to that.  

When we moved to Las Cruces Josh was the first to settle down on a team. I'd like to think that this is because he is the most passionate about soccer and would have been lost without the backbone that a soccer team provides in his life. The first family we met, the Meza's, were/are amazing. They were so warm and welcoming when we first came. Mr. Meza seems to know everybody in town and was eager to get us acclimated to everyone he knew. He was a true blessing those first few months in a new town. His wife was equally warm and I am so grateful that I got to know her. She is great with my kiddos. This family reminds me in so many ways of the Boorman family whom I love very much. They are very family centered and have a love for soccer just as our family does. Their son reminds us a lot of Josh's best friend Logan. 

Through the new soccer team that Josh is on we have weathered some storms that have drawn us all closer. From Josh busting out both his knees within 6 months of each other to his first team imploding due to poor leadership from the original coach. As parents we have had to make sense of some pretty crazy things, but we have been all the better for it. And just like that, as I look around me now, I see parents that I have come to depend on. I see families that I hang out with outside of soccer and I see my kids becoming close with teammates and their siblings. 

Now only three of our kids play soccer, but life is still just as crazy as soccer practices have become more frequent as my boys age. I am finding that siblings are once again making up multiple teams of my kiddos.

 Andy has (FINALLY) found a team that is truly a perfect fit for him with wonderful coaches who take on kids just like Andy, the kids that no one else wants. He is happy on this team because the kids are nice to him. He no longer feels like an outcast as he has all so often before since moving here. He feels like an equal among his teammates and that hasn't happened yet down here. It is nice to see him happy. It is nice to see him welcomed with open arms and to see a coach who appreciates and values his work ethic and good moral character and wants to reward him for those things. This new coach is trying to nurture the leader in Andy and is using him to help those kids who need moral encouragement.

 Elizabeth has also joined a team this spring. She began practices this past week and has jumped right in among these girls. Her coach is a perfect fit for her. He is very knowledgeable and very patient, but also knows how to correct Elizabeth when she gets too far out of line. Some of the girls on her team are homeschooled, which is pretty neat, and the cooler part is that we have never crossed paths with these families before which makes me wonder how many other homeschoolers are out there that we have yet to meet. Elizabeth is doing well even after only two practices. I am excited to see her play this season.

 Josh's team is awesome. They just took first place in a tournament in Phoenix, AZ this past weekend. Josh scored a goal on a PK. His coaches having him playing a center defensive midfield position so he does not get the ability to score very often. I miss that, but he is very much needed where he plays so I understand why he is where he is. His team is very, very good. Every member on the team has a part to play and all the players fit together like a beautiful puzzle. Some players, like Josh, make up a bigger piece of the puzzle as he gets a large chunk of playing time, but all of the players are equally important - even the smaller pieces as they help to make the team complete. I have had three different parents approach me within the past month - two of whom I do not know very well yet - who told me how grateful they were that Josh was back on the field this winter after healing from his last blown out knee. They mentioned that Josh brings a leadership aspect to the team that is missing when he is not able to play. One of them mentioned that his skill in the midfield position was missing when he was injured. These compliments meant the world to me because his team is so good that I thought that his absence when injured wouldn't be felt very much. I guess I was wrong. It is nice to know that others value his ability as a player as much as I do. 

My soccer family in Ohio was super important to me, but I also had my family to rely on. Out here in the Southwest I have just my soccer family and homeschooling peeps to walk me through the trials and tribulations of life, and also to celebrate our family's joys as well. I have come to depend on my soccer family all that much more. And even with the squabbles among members I find myself falling in love all over again - in a different way for sure, but it's a love all the same. It is with these families that my kids will create memories with. It is with these families I will create memories with. 

The memories, the love, the time spent together all seem strangely familiar yet uniquely different.