Soccer Mom

I never had a desire to coach, no less soccer. I wanted to be the soccer mom handing out juice packs, cheering from the sideline, which I did my kid’s first couple years participating.

There it was. An email welcoming us to the new soccer association. The email went on to say my son was registered and had been assigned a team but there were more players/teams than coaches. Involuntarily, I immediately and intently felt my spirit ready to call to action.

What! I initially told myself, No! Why would you do that, I questioned myself? You don’t know anything about soccer. Let someone else do it. But my spirit reassuringly and definitively said, You do it!

I have played, whether competitively or recreationally, many sports: basketball, track, swimming, tennis, skating, American football, kickball maybe, but I cannot recall a time I ever played soccer. So why in the world had my spirit overtaken my body and sent that president a response email: My name is Adrian Webster, my son is registered as a player…. Yes! I will volunteer to be the team’s soccer coach.

Welp! It was too late. I had already hit send. I could not unsend it, or at least I do not know how to do that.  So what, the most I had ever watched of futbol was the movie Bend It Like Beckham? I knew my son wanted to play, I wanted him to be able to play, and he needed a coach to be able to do that.

Let me just say, we are not talking coaching for the World Cup, these are 6/7-year-olds.

Nonetheless, I am not in the practice of doing anything half-ass. When I commit to something, I want to give it my all. This would be just the challenge I needed: I would be teaching and helping the youth, I would have to learn how to coach eight energy filled personalities (I could barely handle my two), and I would be able to share this experience with my son.

I reminded myself I was in the season of Yes!

This was another opportunity to put myself outside of my comfort zone. When I told my son I would be his coach, he was elated! This would be a feeling that would rise and fall over the course of the seasons because he would learn Coach Adrian is a little tougher than Mom.

I pulled from my experience and training, watched some YouTube videos, enlisted my Uncle Carl to help, and talked to a coach or two. My son was given the responsibility to pick the team’s name and colors for the uniform.

I have coached two seasons now, and this has been such a fulfilling and rewarding experience for me. Watching these young men improve and gain confidence each week has added to providing a sense of purpose and increased satisfaction in my own life. It has reignited my teamwork and competitive spirit bringing me pure fun and joy. I was able to introduce many of them to yoga, a passion of mine, which I incorporated into their practice weekly. Some were hesitant and reluctant until informed that both some of the highest performing athletes and their favorite athletes also practice yoga: Lebron James, Russell Wilson, and Cristiano Ronaldo. Our first practice they soon realized yoga was not easy. The opportunity for a lesson: Not everything will be easy, but it doesn’t make it impossible.

I recognized I am not Sir Alex Ferguson, but what I had to give them, I would. I wanted them to understand winning is not everything, but discipline, focus, integrity, work ethic, teamwork produces winning on the field, but more importantly, in life.
The team has kept me active. There is a lot of endurance training, and I am competitive, even with kids, “Yall gone let this old lady do more push-ups than you!?” They loved it, and it worked to push them to do more, then they push me to do more, and…. you see where this is going.
It brought joy to me to hear my son bragging to the other guys as they were getting to know one another, “The coach is my mom!” That is until he was mad at me because I made him run an extra lap for too much horseplaying.

Coaching my son has had its challenges, but it has opened up a deeper dialect about hard work, leadership, winning and losing, in a different and more layered relatable way, since being on the field together. It has made me proud and excited for him to see his drive, leadership and skills blossom over the seasons.

I am so grateful for this bonding experience. I am thankful for the parents and their support in trusting me to coach their children.

We just wrapped another season, and my son is asking that I continue to coach him. Next year the stakes and the rules get a little more difficult, which may be more than I want to take on. Coaching was never intended to be a long-term position for me. I want the young men to be able to get all the technique and skill development they need to succeed.

I will continue to be on the sideline cheering and motivating ready to pass out the snacks. That is, unless I get an email and a feeling regarding my daughter’s team….. Until then,
Go Cobras!

We’d like to know: What is your spirit calling you to do? Are you hesitant? Why?

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