"THE PLAN"

Luke is our resident soccer star. He is really quite the natural athlete in general. He loves any sport and is good at pretty much all he has tried. I’d like to think that came from me but realistically coming from the person who has broken her arm 4 times and busted a whole in my knee swinging on a vine(long story which involves being asked where Tarzan was for weeks) it’s probably not likely.

Luke’s soccer career began many years ago in the summer before 1^st grade. I remember the first practice he was so excited he geared up and we were off. After the practice I asked how it went and he said so excitedly that the coach was great and they were going to win every game. “Why do you think that I asked?” He hands me a paper and then explained that the coach showed them “The Plan” and with this they were definitely going to win. He had a big mischievous grin like he’d just been given the secrets to unlock the universe. I look down to see this unbeatable secret plan and I realize that it is a diagram of the different positions, what each does, and basic soccer guidelines. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that there may be a leak and the other teams just might be tipped off to “The Plan” as well.

Years have passed and his ability evolved. He realized early positions he excelled at and some well, not so much. Early on they put him in as goalie and while the ball was at the other end (thank goodness) he is down in the goal box acting as if he is saving balls as he leaps from side to side lunging for the invisible ball. It did look just like something you would see on TV but much less impressive when the actual game is going on downfield. One other goalie mishap is when the game again seemed to be dominated downfield so he was climbing the goal and got a little tangled in it. Luckily he freed himself before the ball came his way. Needless to say goalie is not his strong point. Since then Forward has been his position and he is great at that.

This year Luke’s team didn’t have a coach at first and finally a dad of one of the players stepped up to do it. It was brave considering he really had admittedly no real soccer or coaching experience but at least he was a willing person. So after several practices Luke says I don’t even want to go to another practice all he tells us is all the positions and what they do and I already know all that stuff. So I say he is just reviewing “The Plan” Luke so you guys will be unstoppable. I thought it was quite clever and was pretty amused with myself but him-not so much. I got the famous eye roll followed by “Whatever” which has become so familiar as of late and almost as annoying as the ‘Mere Meltdown.

The season was interesting but I have found that with highly competitive children that there is always an interesting reason for losing. He has great sportsmanship during the game. He is first to help up an opponent off the ground if they fall or tell someone good job. However, after each loss on the way home Luke would say, “We would have won if those ref’s would have called anything.” Or “We would have won but that other team totally cheated.” Or my favorite -which this one was from several teammates as well as Luke-“That team had to have been on steroids did you see how Huge and mean they were.” I tried to give profound motherly advice but got a blank stare. So I would then try to say something subtly like so you don’t think it was because your team spent the whole time trying to defend your goal and barely even had possession of the ball or when your team finally got the ball the last 3 attempts at a goal were off by like a mile. Luke pauses a moment then replies, “Nope, that #11 was totally fouling people they should have given him a yellow card.” It’s really quite amazing that so much injustice is allowed in this soccer organization. Someone must really be alerted. I’m sure that if they all followed “The Plan” that none of these things would happen.