from the sporting world

The girls are playing soccer. The girls are only 4 and they are learning. Soccer this year ( our first but the second or third go around for other families) is more like a workshop. The kids come and are learning the fundamentals of the game.

They learn to properly dribble, pass, and kick the ball. They learn about not using your hands, they learn about being on a team.

I have noticed however that with my children entering the sporting world so come the parents with complaints. Oh my goodness, the constant complaints. Why aren't there teams? Why aren't we playing games instead of "learning"?

The parents are cheering from the sidelines as if a scholarship is on the line. "Come on Brandon, push to the goal....score...come on push." "Jill, get up off the ground and chase after that ball"

I, however, am excited the kids are learning. I'm a big supporter of keeping the competition down to a minimum since our children are so young. A 4 or 5 or even a 6 year old (in my opinion) doesn't need the pressures of winning and loosing.

I've been there....I have had "my game" critiqued on the ride home. If I had only ran faster, jumped higher...played better then maybe the game would have been won...not lost. What little child needs that?

How are good athletes made? Well the first response would probably be practice. And yes, that is necessary but so is FUNDAMENTALS!!!

Tiger Woods wouldn't be the amazing golfer he is today if he hadn't first learning how to properly hit the ball. Michael Jordan wouldn't have changed the face of basketball without learning to dribble the ball instead of just carrying it around.

I also believe that our children are too young to be separated, the good players and the not so good. Suddenly, your child is the last picked....the child who other parents complain about because "they aren't that good, they will cost us the game."

Try explaining to your 4 year old why they don't get to play with the other kids...why they just aren't "good enough".

Why is our country so enthusiastic about pushing our children to grow up so quickly? In the stores toddler clothes look more like teenagers clothing. In the schools kindergartners are bringing home hours of homework. On the sporting fields, children are forced to measure up or get out.

I'm glad that this year of soccer is about learning. I'm glad that my children have a chance to develop positive sportsmanship and a chance to learn what it is to be involved in the sporting world.

I want to keep my children just that, children. While I believe I hold high expectations for my girls I am trying very hard to remember they are just 4 years old. I try to use the time after soccer to instill good sportsmanship and the desire to learn. If they happen to turn into amazing soccer players along the way, wonderful. I, however, refuse to be a parent who fusses at their child from the sidelines pushing the thought that to be worth while you have to win.

Let's allow our children to have some fun...they have the rest of their lives to compete!