Winning

This morning we had a soccer game. One of our players is way too good for his age. I call him the soccer genius. He is not especially big. He is just too good. He cannot play all out. For him the challenge is making a good pass to another player so that they can score. He can get in trouble for scoring. Today, after scoring, his former coach hollered at him after he scored, "That is your last one! Did you hear that?! You got a golf clap!" It was true, he got a little golf clap. It was beneath him to score a goal. It was tacky. In the second half of the game, our coach, Coach Barker, had him play goalie. Coach Barker told me that he would not move him back on the field even if we lost. We had no substitute players, so moving him off the field entirely was impossible. As goalie he just about dominated the game by kicking it across the field. Last year I saw him score as goalie by kicking the ball just right so that the ball bounced over the opposing team's goalie.

The boy is not cocky. I think he would prefer to be a little less good. He has to reserve himself. He can only try his hardest in little spurts. So he cannot completely immerse himself in the game. He is not playing the same game that the others are playing.

And in fact, for everybody, the score is irrelevant. It is not irrelevant because we have decided the score didn't matter because how you play matters the most. It is irrelevant because we can always ask the soccer genius to outscore the other team.

Enough about soccer genius. It was thrilling to watch Kaley. We have worked a lot on her dribbling. I can't tell you how much fun it was to watch her dribble past three or four players in a row. She did this a couple times. I have worked with her on her head shots. She did an amazing headshot in the game. She didn't score, but it was really cool. Coach Barker went bananas when she did it. She also scored a goal.

Right now, the rest of the family is in the back planting our Fall garden. I stayed up way too late last night. I have a poker game tonight. I am in no condition for the game.