Soccer on the Beach?

If you've read my Blog even a little bit, you've surely heard about my son Jacob. He's quite a little athlete and I'm a proud papa, so I talk about him.

Well a few weeks ago we got a note home from school. I know what you're thinking - same as me when my son told me he had a note from his teacher. But it turned out to be a note from the PE Specialist. The note said that this teacher had "rarely seen this level of athleticism at this age" and since he coached a local competitive soccer club he wanted Jacob to come try playing soccer for him.

Truth be told, Jacob had asked to play soccer, but it had conflicted with his rec baseball, travel baseball or football schedules, and we'd just never made the leap. One other factor was the expense of it. Competitive soccer in our area runs from $1000 to $1400 per year, money we just don't have.

I called the coach and explained our situation and he encouraged us to let Jacob give it a try at least and we'd go from there.

He went to 2 practices before he was invited to play in a weekend Beach Soccer Tournament - one of the largest soccer tournaments in the US. Strangely he was not committed to baseball that weekend and we went to play in the sand. He did fantastic.

Afterwards the coach told us that Jacob was right where the others were after a year of coaching and he'd just started a few days before. I thanked him for the opportunity but told him our time constraints and financial concerns.

He said if Jacob wanted to play, and we'd allow it - he would "make it work" and would cover the cost of the soccer. We couldn't believe it. Was he "that" good? Maybe so, and as nice as it was to hear, and even flattering - it's just too much. The poor kid wouldn't have a spare moment to himself.

We sadly had to decline the invite and told the coach maybe after baseball. He insisted we keep the uniforms he gave us and bring Jacob out when we could and he'd see to it that his skills would improve.

I'm still thinking as a retirement plan - Baseball is where my future is, but Soccer's not a bad backup. :o)