Soccer Nights. Check!
Soccer Nights is a one-week free soccer camp that the Vineyard Church started 5 years ago to serve the community. Now it is in 5 locations and they have 2 camps in Cambridge serving a total of 1000 kids across Boston. So cool.
Since I know you have to be flexible when volunteering I played it cool when I found out that instead of Assistant Coaching on the Orange Division of 10-12 year olds as originally assigned, I was switched to a coach in the Red Division - the first graders. And I was ask to teach curriculum all week. Bonus new thing. Hmmm... I have never taught plus little kids seem less relatable therefore scarier than bigger kids.
The Red Division had 4 teams. Soccer Nights is about trying your hardest, not winning but...my team, the Red Kicking Dragons, did win our Division Championship! They cared for about 2 minutes doing fake fainting on the field and starfish jumps for joy. Then all they wanted was ice cream. Love those kids.
Teaching curriculum made me get creative and more thoughtful about being a part of the week. It was only 15 minutes of teaching and group time and the topics were simple: Names, Homes, Trust, Encouragement and Goals. It ended up being really fun and I used some of the techniques I've picked up from my teacher friends over the years ("If you can hear me touch your nose" sort of stuff) which was a huge help.
In the spirit of the Olympics, throughout the week the coaches gave out gold medals to the kids who were trying their hardest and working well together like using the names of their teammates and being respectful. On night 4 when we talked about encouragement we taught them to high five to encourage each other when someone did something well and then let THEM give out gold medals to their teammates.
When one little girl on my team volunteered to be the goalie, another little boy said "I'm giving you a gold medal for being the goalie!" She returned with "I'm giving you a gold medal for giving me a gold medal!" and then all the kids on my team started giving each other gold medals. Way to go team!
This is me and Martin. He made me a heart shaped card on the last night. Heart strings were pulled. He would put water on his hair to make a wet mohawk before our scrimmage each night which made him double adorable.
I'm going to keep an eye out (in a non-creepy way) for the kids from Soccer Nights that live in my neighborhood. A lot of the kids are from single mother homes or refugee/immigrant families. Hopefully I'll run into some of the kids, get to know their moms and build community in my 'hood.
What I learned from my week at Soccer Nights:
Even big kids have to learn to be friends. It was harder to meet and befriend the other coaches than I expected. I had to be really intentional about saying hi and being careful not to be that weird new girl because everyone mostly knew each other. I'm committing right now to going to Soccer Nights volunteer get togethers to make friends with people from other churches. Community is awesome, but still work.
Little kids want to make you happy. The first graders were the best. While sometimes they have a hard time paying attention, it is really no different than talking to a group of adults who are all distracted by their smart phones. I am happy to say, first graders are now my friends and I fear them no more.
The real way to turn the other cheek. During training one girl was teasing me ever so slightly during role playing drills. She gave me roles like "crush on the coach" which I took as "you are a flirt because you wore yellow jeans to a soccer training." The other role she bestowed was "brown-noser" which I translated as "you are too eager to volunteer and get attention." In my defense, I was super excited to volunteer. I was going out after training, therefore the yellow jeans, Ok!?
This all made me a little nervous for Soccer Nights and to see her again. Should I tell her she maybe shouldn't pick on the new people? Should I just avoid her and blow it off? Is she a mean girl? Did SHE really have a crush on the coach? For the 3 days between training and the start of Soccer Nights these thoughts would occasionally creep into my mind.
I had butterflies in my stomach walking to Soccer Nights the first night. Then God taught me to turn the other cheek. She was my division leader. Yay. I decided that turning the other cheek meant more than letting someone hit you in both eyes. It was about letting things go and not taking yourself too seriously.
When I walked up to her to tell her I was switched to her division and would be her curriculum teacher, she said "Hey, Crush-On-The-Coach!" and I just said "Hey girl!"and then we became friends. Ahhh. The things that get in our heads are so funny. She is not a mean girl. Is a really sweet girl in fact.
Dear mind,
Stop messing with me and making me take up valuable time and energy to worry about things that aren't real or important.
Love,
Self
Go Red Kicking Dragons!
t
Soccer Nights is a one-week free soccer camp that the Vineyard Church started 5 years ago to serve the community. Now it is in 5 locations and they have 2 camps in Cambridge serving a total of 1000 kids across Boston. So cool.
 |
| After the downpour on Day 2 we had a full rainbow. Thanks God. |
Since I know you have to be flexible when volunteering I played it cool when I found out that instead of Assistant Coaching on the Orange Division of 10-12 year olds as originally assigned, I was switched to a coach in the Red Division - the first graders. And I was ask to teach curriculum all week. Bonus new thing. Hmmm... I have never taught plus little kids seem less relatable therefore scarier than bigger kids.
The Red Division had 4 teams. Soccer Nights is about trying your hardest, not winning but...my team, the Red Kicking Dragons, did win our Division Championship! They cared for about 2 minutes doing fake fainting on the field and starfish jumps for joy. Then all they wanted was ice cream. Love those kids.
Teaching curriculum made me get creative and more thoughtful about being a part of the week. It was only 15 minutes of teaching and group time and the topics were simple: Names, Homes, Trust, Encouragement and Goals. It ended up being really fun and I used some of the techniques I've picked up from my teacher friends over the years ("If you can hear me touch your nose" sort of stuff) which was a huge help.
In the spirit of the Olympics, throughout the week the coaches gave out gold medals to the kids who were trying their hardest and working well together like using the names of their teammates and being respectful. On night 4 when we talked about encouragement we taught them to high five to encourage each other when someone did something well and then let THEM give out gold medals to their teammates.
When one little girl on my team volunteered to be the goalie, another little boy said "I'm giving you a gold medal for being the goalie!" She returned with "I'm giving you a gold medal for giving me a gold medal!" and then all the kids on my team started giving each other gold medals. Way to go team!
This is me and Martin. He made me a heart shaped card on the last night. Heart strings were pulled. He would put water on his hair to make a wet mohawk before our scrimmage each night which made him double adorable.
I'm going to keep an eye out (in a non-creepy way) for the kids from Soccer Nights that live in my neighborhood. A lot of the kids are from single mother homes or refugee/immigrant families. Hopefully I'll run into some of the kids, get to know their moms and build community in my 'hood.
What I learned from my week at Soccer Nights:
Even big kids have to learn to be friends. It was harder to meet and befriend the other coaches than I expected. I had to be really intentional about saying hi and being careful not to be that weird new girl because everyone mostly knew each other. I'm committing right now to going to Soccer Nights volunteer get togethers to make friends with people from other churches. Community is awesome, but still work.
Little kids want to make you happy. The first graders were the best. While sometimes they have a hard time paying attention, it is really no different than talking to a group of adults who are all distracted by their smart phones. I am happy to say, first graders are now my friends and I fear them no more.
The real way to turn the other cheek. During training one girl was teasing me ever so slightly during role playing drills. She gave me roles like "crush on the coach" which I took as "you are a flirt because you wore yellow jeans to a soccer training." The other role she bestowed was "brown-noser" which I translated as "you are too eager to volunteer and get attention." In my defense, I was super excited to volunteer. I was going out after training, therefore the yellow jeans, Ok!?
This all made me a little nervous for Soccer Nights and to see her again. Should I tell her she maybe shouldn't pick on the new people? Should I just avoid her and blow it off? Is she a mean girl? Did SHE really have a crush on the coach? For the 3 days between training and the start of Soccer Nights these thoughts would occasionally creep into my mind.
I had butterflies in my stomach walking to Soccer Nights the first night. Then God taught me to turn the other cheek. She was my division leader. Yay. I decided that turning the other cheek meant more than letting someone hit you in both eyes. It was about letting things go and not taking yourself too seriously.
When I walked up to her to tell her I was switched to her division and would be her curriculum teacher, she said "Hey, Crush-On-The-Coach!" and I just said "Hey girl!"and then we became friends. Ahhh. The things that get in our heads are so funny. She is not a mean girl. Is a really sweet girl in fact.
Dear mind,
Stop messing with me and making me take up valuable time and energy to worry about things that aren't real or important.
Love,
Self
Go Red Kicking Dragons!
t
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