(A parent sent me a message saying her daughter was smiling the whole time she was on the field, even if she wasn't kicking the ball around as much as we wish she would...and that they (the parents) were all laughing and smiling watching the girls play.)
My response:
Thank you. Fun is my primary goal. I'm not planning on any of our girls being the next Marta, but I do want them to love the game so much that they play until they're 90 years old.
I didn't play soccer as a kid, but I just started playing in MSA's adult league last season. It has given me such a good perspective on how the game looks to our girls. The number of decisions you need to make when you're dribbling the ball is unbelievable. First you have to be moving with the ball and not kicking it away from yourself. Much like when you first learned to drive a car, you had to really concentrate just to stay in your own lane. After hours and hours of driving, you finally were able to focus more on the surrounding traffic and staying in your lane was a subconscious activity. Dribbling a soccer ball is even harder (though not as dangerous). It takes hours and hours of dribbling to get to a point where you can really start to observe the "traffic" around you. Then once you get to that point, you have to decide if you should slow down, speed up, turn left, turn right, pass forward, pass back, shoot, kick it out of bounds, and don't forget to breath. Then once you decide not to dribble, kicking the ball is a whole different set of skills to work on. I love it and I want the kiddos to enjoy that challenge as well.
Thanks again,
Bill
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