I have a love-hate relationship with soccer. Fortunately, just about all of the other dads that are affiliated with Hadley’s soccer team do as well. Every weekend I sit there with Jason and Clark and Randy and Shawn, all of us hoping and praying that the right version of Hadley’s team shows up so that we can watch quality soccer. If they do, it’s terrific. But as often as not, five minutes into the game we realize that the right version is, indeed, back at home, eating ice cream and watching The Suite Life on Deck or iCarly or whatever, and we’re stuck with the version that is sponsored by pharmaceutical companies that sell high blood pressure meds. Jekyll and Hyde, indeed. Fact of the Day: When this team first transitioned from recreational soccer to competitive (travel) soccer a few years ago, the girls themselves picked the team name ... CHAOS. True Story.
When the Mr. Hyde version of CHAOS shows up, sometimes we just sit there calmly and wait for the credits to roll (after all, we have seen this movie before). Sometimes we pace. And sometimes we just try to forget about what’s happening in the game that is going on in front of us and focus on broader meaning-of-life soccer questions. Y’know, questions like, “How many years do you think it’ll take for these girls to be able to anticipate instead of always reacting?” Or “Wouldn’t it be nice if just half of the girls in any one game decided that they always wanted to be first to the ball?” Or “Don’t you think ‘offsides’ is the most ridiculous rule in all of organized sports?” (Editor’s Note: The answer is a resounding ‘yes’.) And then there is the old standby, “Where are we in points, now?” ... at which time things immediately are deferred to Clark who is the only one of us who has even the slightest grasp of the CSS (Communist Scoring System) that goes along with tournament soccer.
Then there are days when we simply try to ignore where we are altogether. Truly disastrous soccer has spawned lengthy conversations about school district funding, the pros and cons of selling body parts to facilitate the purchase of World Series tickets, college plans for our other children, our own experiences in high school and college athletics, the mix of teaching versus research among faculty at Texas A&M ... I could go on and on, but you get the picture.
From all of this discussion you would think that I truly hate soccer and that the other dads are right there with me. And I guess on some days you would be more or less right. But on most days it’s a lot of fun. The weekly Houston routine can get a little old after a while, but the bottom line is that when the girls play hard it is wonderful. Plus, we’re all completely crazy about our daughters and love hanging out with them; the parents are all great (Hallelujah); the coaches are terrific; and driving 75 minutes each direction and sitting in the open air for a couple of hours beats the heck out of about 93% of the tasks I’d be faced with if I were actually home on a Saturday. So all in all it’s a very positive experience, despite our sideline grumbling.
But track ... oh, track ... track is HEAVEN.
As some of you know, Hadley is one of the sprinters on her CRRRAZY good 7th grade track team. She runs the 100m hurdles, the 100m sprint, and the 200m sprint. Why do the specific events matter? First and foremost, Hadley absolutely loves running them. She wants no part of distance, but other than going to see Justin Bieber in concert, I don’t think there is anything in the world she would rather do than try to outrun people. This is terrific for me as a more-than-casually-interested dad, of course, because I can’t envision her ever doing anything but totally busting her butt in these events. And unfortunately, I can’t say that about soccer. She doesn’t dog it in soccer or anything and she enjoys playing, but unless she scores early and smells blood she doesn’t always play with the intensity that she should. And I just don’t see that as an issue in track. I guess the bottom line is that while Hadley has always been hyper-competitive, it seems like it’s a lot easier for her to channel that drive over 100m / 200m than across an entire 70-minute soccer game.
The second reason that the specific events matter is that they are over really, really fast. As a 12-year old, Hadley runs the 100m sprint in about 13.7 seconds or so and the 200m sprint in about 29 seconds. So as a spectator, I can look at the listing of events, show up at the track juuuuuuust in time to see the 100m hurdles (18 seconds and change maybe?? ... I dunno) ... sit back down and wait 25 minutes or so for the 100m sprint ... chat with other parents or go get dinner somewhere and come back in time for the 200m sprint ... and go home. Now granted, there is a fair amount of waiting around here and there because the meets involve 7th and 8th grade boys and girls and the transitions between events aren’t always perfectly smooth. But still, the reality is that (1) I have to focus my attention for a total of about one minute across the entire evening and (2) I don’t have to worry one bit about whether the good Hadley or the maddening Hadley is going to show up. So yes, I have come to the conclusion that TRACK > SOCCER.
Another upside to Hadley being a sprinter instead of a distance runner is that I can capture an entire track meet in about two minutes of video. I’ve actually gotten several requests for video from family members and former babysitters (some of whom are Aggie former athletes), but really ... do you think they would be asking for that if she ran the 3200m? Me neither. I mean seriously, who wants to watch anyone run eight laps around the track? I guess if Hadley were really into that gig I could pretend to be interested, but I don’t know how believable I would be.
As always, thanks for stopping by.
Peace,
Mike
