Lander offers two ways for young people (elementary school aged) to participate in soccer. The Strikers soccer league is an invitation-only league, so you know that all of the players in the league are good at soccer. Lander Parks & Recreation Soccer League welcomes everybody of all abilities to play. The Strikers' games are on Saturdays and Sundays. Parks & Rec games are on Mondays - Thursdays. Strikers starts at about age 10, so it's just for the upper grades. So all the kids that are good at soccer are in the Strikers league, and the Parks & Rec older leagues have the less talented soccer players and the Mormon kids. In seasons past, Micah has handled this pretty well. But the older he gets, the fewer and fewer talented athletes are in Parks & Rec soccer.
Reality set in for James and he shortened his team's soccer practices to just twice a week. On Tuesdays and Thursdays at five they have soccer practice, and a Striker team also happened to have practice at the same time, on the same field. The Strikers are very elitist and since they are obviously more important than Parks & Rec, they think they should get the field. Yesterday James just scooted over and used half the field, leaving the other half to this Strikers team. It turns out that most of Micah's friends from school were on this Strikers team and Micah was very embarrassed to be there & playing for Parks & Rec. He said that his friends had kept inviting him to be on their Strikers team and he kept explaining that he couldn't because they play on Sunday.
On Tuesday evening we went to the Community Meeting because Cameron & Micah are working on their Communications Merit badge and needed to attend a public meeting where different views were shared. We went to the "Young Families" session. The panelists asked everyone there what they didn't like about Lander, what they liked about Lander, and what projects they'd like to see done in Lander. When they asked what Micah didn't like about Lander, he said, "that the Strikers play on Sunday." When they asked him what projects he'd like to see done, he said, "I want the Strikers not to play on Sunday." So you can see it has been on his mind a lot.
I am proud of him that it was never a question of whether or not he could play with the Strikers. 
He just knew that since it was a Sunday activity, he wouldn't be doing it. I'm grateful that he has that kind of integrity and high morals. Someday when he's grown up he'll look back on his experience with soccer and be happy that he chose not to play on Sundays. I think he'll also eventually realize that being one of the stars of his soccer team is something that might not have happened if he'd played with the Strikers. So there are advantages to being one of the few older kids still playing for Parks & Rec. Micah is also reffing soccer for the U-8 Parks & Rec League so that will be a good experience, and one that he might not have had time for if he was playing for Strikers.
He just knew that since it was a Sunday activity, he wouldn't be doing it. I'm grateful that he has that kind of integrity and high morals. Someday when he's grown up he'll look back on his experience with soccer and be happy that he chose not to play on Sundays. I think he'll also eventually realize that being one of the stars of his soccer team is something that might not have happened if he'd played with the Strikers. So there are advantages to being one of the few older kids still playing for Parks & Rec. Micah is also reffing soccer for the U-8 Parks & Rec League so that will be a good experience, and one that he might not have had time for if he was playing for Strikers.
1 comment:
I'm so proud of Micah for keeping his priorities straight!!
Grandma Call
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