The Road is Still Closed

Yeah, I was going to finish the vacay series today but there are other things going on that need to be said.



The Genius played soccer for his high school last year and went out for it again this year.� They started on Monday and on Tuesday he was expressing concern about whether or not he made the team.� Tuesday evening after practice, he told me he made the team and that the coach was going to call me, but he did not know what about.�� Soooo...



No call from coach on Tuesday.� Wednesday practice was rained out and by 7:00 that night there was still no call.� I asked The Genius again if he made the team and he said yes so we went out to purchase new soccer shoes as he had outgrown last year's shoes.



Fast forward to Thursday night at 9:37 PM when my phone rings and I recognize the name as the coach's on the caller ID.� Here is the conversation I had last night:



C: I noticed The Genius had on shoes today at practice.� Maybe you can take those back since he only wore them once. (Yes, this was the START of the conversation).� I want to ask The Genius and another boy to be team managers.



M: I don't think Dick's will take them back as he wore them today...what does being a team manager involve?



C: Well, he would be responsible for equipment.� I can't guarantee he would get much playing time.



M: He wants to play.� He wants to be part of the team.



C: He would be part of the team.



M: He would be a gopher.



C: I wouldn't call it that...



M: If he is running around after balls that is what he is.� Have you discussed this with him?



C: No I wanted to run it by you first.



M: He wants to play.



C: I'll talk to him tomorrow and get a feel for where he stands.



I could tell when we hung up he was annoyed with me, but WTF??� I have more issues with this conversation than I know where to begin.� First off, the way it started. Shoes?� Really?� Add to this that we had a $55 bill for a sport's fee to pay and had just found out the coach wants another $45 for jerseys....so my son can carry around a bag 'o balls.� Then the guy had led The Genius to believe that he had made the team...but saying he could try to take back his shoes is saying "Hey, he isn't even going to get practice time!" right?�



I was still seething�when I called the Athletics Director and told him the situation.� He was going to talk to the coach and then call me back but instead he dropped it in another coaches lap with no real explanation.� So Coach M. called me back and I re-explained it all.



Essentially what happened was that twenty-something kids came out for JV and The Genius and one other boy did not have the skill set as the rest of the players (I will give my opinion on that in a moment) so instead of cutting these two kids, the coach wanted to offer them these "Team manager" things.� Coach M was not happy at all with the way The Genius' coach handled the situation.� He should have spoken to The Genius first and not me.� He should have not led the kid to think he had made the team and if he hadn't made the team he should have spoken to the kid at the absolute latest, yesterday, before he wore the stupid shoes.� Asshat coach.�



I told Coach M. that The Genius had enough problems in school without the rest of the soccer team knowing he was sitting on the bench taking stats because he wasn't good enough to make the team.� I told him the kid had enough problems in the cafeteria.�



Then I took Coach M off subject and inquired on Cross Country.� I have been trying to talk The Genius into running.� Our youth group (one of whom is a former high school runner) has been trying to talk him into running.� The kid has the body of runner.� Coach M jumped on that explaining that the cross country team had a new coach this year and she was in desperate need of male runners.� He also said he had seen The Genius run on the field and the kid could run.� So, today, Coach M is going to speak to The Genius, have Coach Asshat speak to The Genius and then Coach M will introduce The Genius to the cross country coach and we will all hope for the best.



The Genius has always been a lot afraid of a lot of things.� Balls would be one of them.� In watching a few games last season, he just has a lot fear of really getting in there, risking injury to get control of the ball. He has fear of playing football with friends.� He is convinced he sucks in basketball.� But he likes being part of a team.� As a runner, a cross country runner,�it is just him out there; no other kids trying to wrestle with him for anything.� Even racing, you pass each other, you don't try to tackle each other to get what you want.



I am hoping this plays out well, despite how lousy it has played out thus far.� I told Coach M that I had been trying to get The Genius to run, but well, I am his mother.� He understood.� I told him with some encouragement from them, maybe he would do it.



I'll keep you posted.