Ryan Starts Soccer

Ryan started AYSO soccer this year and is having a blast. We love watching him play. He gets this look in his eyes and he means business. He runs as fast as his little legs will take him because he loves to get the ball and score goals. The season did not start out like this. The first game he ran off the field and said he was too tired to run anymore. He had been running around with the rest of his team looking like a giant swarm of bees. He never really touched the ball, fell down a few times and just didn't have a clue as to what was going on. Having played soccer for twenty-something years, I was heartbroken. I looked at Sanjay, and I knew he was thinking the same thing. How could we (2 former soccer players) NOT have a soccer playing son? He had been in soccer class since he was 2, loved kicking the ball with us outside and running around like crazy, so what was going on? It almost became a joke with the other parents on the sidelines. Our child ran around like crazy, never touched the ball and was exhausted. Something had to change. I thought I would be that parent that never bribed my child. I was wrong. I knew Ryan just needed a little motivation to get in the game and play like we knew he could. Before each game we told him he could have frozen yogurt from his favorite yogurt place if he played hard and tried to score goals. That was all we had to say to him. Ryan played each game post bribe aggressively and scored goals in most games. There were a few games where he didn't score goals and when we told him how great he played and how proud we were of him for giving it his all, he would frown and say," I wanted to score a goal!" It was not because of the yogurt, but just because he loved the feeling of scoring. After each goal that he scored he would smile at us and pump his fist in the air. It was very cute. Needless to say, he is very excited for spring soccer.