Parents Get Their Kicks At Youth Soccer
It’s mostly adult voices you hear at kids soccer games.
Coaches yell. “No standing around out there. Remember? We talked about that.”
And parents exhort. “C’mon, Josh. Get to it. Get to it. Get to it. Good job!”
The girls and boys actually playing the games are, for the most part, pretty quiet. At least they were Sunday morning at the side-by-side fields over near Albi Stadium.
A little before 9 o’clock, half a dozen games were underway beneath gray skies. Every once in a while, a nippy drizzle-whipping wind blew in over summer’s dead body. It was a perfect morning for leaving the minivan in the garage and staying in and reading the paper.
But soccer families pay attention to those schedules posted on refrigerator doors all across Spokane. And the schedules said there was a weekend tournament. So maybe 150 scattered adults, some sitting beneath umbrellas, watched the games and provided a running commentary punctuated by the THOOM of a kicked ball and the sound of officials’ whistles.
“Ya gotta want it.”
“Fire up, Gavin.”
“C’mon Rachel, push it up.”
An eruption of cheering in the distance meant a goal had been scored.
Some of the players just arriving looked like small prizefighters with entourages.
Parents walked beside them, offering encouragement and carrying big athletic-gear bags, coolers and lawn chairlike sideline seats. A few families brought along their dogs.
Every now and then, you had to look around and make sure you hadn’t stumbled into an SUV commercial.
Along the sidelines between a boys game and a girls game, a little boy who looked to be about 3 - no older - was dressed for the weather. He had on a black knit cap, a plaid jacket, blue sweatpants and sneakers. He had a big graham cracker in his mouth.
People called him Craig. Maybe it was Greg.
Anyway, Craig or Greg ran around and maneuvered a soccer ball with his tiny feet.
It probably helped that, on account of his legs being so short, he couldn’t run all that fast. But at his top speed, he maintained control of the ball in a way that was nothing short of amazing.
He had a big smile which you could see past the graham cracker.
Out on the soccer fields, the kids playing in the games didn’t seem to be having quite so much fun.
Of course, none of them had graham crackers.
, DataTimes MEMO: Being There is a weekly feature that visits Inland Northwest gatherings.