soccer mom

I've heard the term "soccer mom" used a lot, and am confused by what it actually means.

A friend of mine is of the opinion that the term denotes a mom who drives an SUV, who parks in the up-close handicapped parking spot so she doesn't have to walk from long distances in the parking lot; the mom who thinks she can bend the rules to make life a little easier on her, cuz she's got-so-much-to-do-with-4-kids, ya know.

A parenting book I was trying to get some tips from suggested that a soccer mom is one who over schedules their kids, commenting that 3 sports per child is becoming the trend, and that soccer moms spend most of their time in the car, driving their busy brood around.

I always thought of a soccer mom as the mom who made everyone feel embarrassed. The screaming lady on the soccer field sidelines, sitting in her fold-up camping chair, yelling at refs, players, and coaches.

Well, I don't really know what soccer mom is, and don't really want to be any of these definitions of a soccer mom, but today, I was a mom of one cute little soccer player. It was his first game EVER!

The field conditions were far from ideal. The game was indoors on a basketball court (even though there is plenty of green grass available on Saturday mornings for soccer games???), there was no real out-of-bounds barriers so the ball would get lost behind chairs, would get shuffled around the feet of spectators and would eventually end up trapped in the corners of the court. Finally there were far too many people screaming instructions inside this echoing gym. These conditions, however, did not stop the players (well some of them), from playing some crazy soccer.

A handful of the kids were more than a little bit confused as to what was going on. Too many kids, too many screaming voices, and not enough soccer balls. These somewhat perplexed children tended to stand and stare, turning their bodies and watching with curious and frightened interest as the other seemingly possessed boys and girls chased after the ball with stunning intensity. Ty was amongst the intense. He was a chaser, a hard core chaser. He would get a kick in here or there and give serious chase to the ball, or the pack of kids when the ball could not be located. His dad was pretty excited by the aggressiveness with which Ty would chase, and the determination he demonstrated in his attempts to get the ball where it needed to go, and his ability to shield the ball from would-be-ball-stealers.

Ty's moment of glory came after a hard fought battle to get the ball up the field (court), which he did despite the defensive efforts of a few opponents, then to get the ball out of a corner, which he did after shielding "his" ball from a potential ball-taker, and finally to get the ball positioned in front of the goal were he directed it safely into the net!!! He didn't really react to the moment in the moment, but he loved it. After the game when we asked him what he liked about the game, he smiled a big smile and said, when I scored! Ty is the player with the green over sized shirt tucked tightly in his green shorts, with the messy hair fitting an early morning 9am game!