A few good men

I've never been athletically-inclined. Never had any interest in anything have to do with sports or breaking a sweat for that matter. So last year when my daughter decided she wanted to try soccer, I was supportive but not overly thrilled. I had a feeling that it would be a disaster. I didn't see myself as a `soccer mom' and to be honest my beautiful daughter is no Mia Hamm.

My daughter just finished her second season with her team. A lot happened over just a few short weeks. She got better. She's not as skilled as some of the other players, but she definitely showed improvement. She wasn't afraid to fall down or take a hit like she used to. Sure, she's still a delicate flower compared to a lot of her teammates, but she didn't fall apart over a skinned knee the way she used to. She even scored her first goal in one of the last games. That was a real highlight.

But more than all of that, she learned to have fun. She learned that winning was great, but it wasn't everything. She learned about communication and being unselfish. She realized that having blowout wins over a team were nice, but they weren't as much fun as working hard together in a low-scoring loss. And she didn't learn any of those things from us, she learned them from her coaches.

I've got to say for our family's first experience with kids sports, we totally lucked out. Her coaches are a father-in-law/son-in-law team who work extremely well together. Every practice is a positive experience for my daughter. I never had to worry about dragging her there. She looked forward to going. She lived for those high fives from the coaches when she did something well. And their attitude poured over to her teammates as well. All the girls are very supportive of one another. All of them know that my daughter has to try a little harder than most, but they're all the first to pat her on the back or come over to me to tell me what a good job she's doing.

When the season ended, her coach had some lovely words to say about my daughter. He talked about what a good listener she was and how hard she works to do her best. But above all, he noted how she always wins everyone's heart. As a mom, there's no greater praise. And for her, that meant everything. When we got home for her end-of-the-season party, my husband found her crying in her room. We realized that she was crying because the season was over and she wasn't going to get a chance to see her coaches or her friends. We told her that we would make every effort to see them over the summer and fall was going to be here before she knew it. We also reassured her by saying that she could play soccer as long as she wanted, and she would see her coaches again. That made her feel better.

So I just want to thank those coaches for proving me wrong about sports and showing her that there's more to sports than winning and losing. She's learned some valuable lessons and there's nothing greater than that.