Dear Spike:
Look, it's true: We named you — your real name, that is — after a professional soccer player. And yes, it's true: You were at your first professional soccer game before you even tipped the six-pound mark on the scales. And yes, it's true: I've got a soccer cleat tattooed on my right arm.
So it was much to my great joy that you slipped on your very first soccer jersey last week. You wanted number 4 — the same number as your father wore on nearly every team on which I played as a kid (although I think you simply wanted it because you are four years old.) The team roster had you assigned to number 3, but somehow you wound up with the digit of your choice. Score.
Skill wise, you've got this game down. But alas, pre-school soccer isn't much of a skill game. And bunch ball upsets you — as well it should.
But every time I see you on the field, looking hesitantly — and from afar — at the crush of boys and girls around the ball, I feel a bit panicked. What if, on the basis of this experience, you decide that soccer's not your thing?
Today I asked you what your favorite sport was. You said it was basketball. You've never played basketball. You've never watched basketball.
But there it was.
"How about soccer?" I asked you later on.
"Yes," you said. "Soccer is fun."
I guess that's good enough for now. As for the future, I suppose we'll see.
And if you do decide that it is not for you, I will not love you any less.
But no, you cannot change your name.
Love,
dad
1 comment:
Really? Do you really think she won't like the game?
I know of no other 2 year old that persevered so relentlessly (and yes, even tried cheating) then reveled in knocking over the cone with her tiny soccer ball at a skills practice for toddlers. I know of no other 3 year old who cried deep-despairing tears when her home team lost an important game (which one, I can't remember.) And, I know of no other 4 year old who, with a gleam in her eyes, told her grandmother, over and over and over of how she stole the ball, not just once but many times, from the big 6 year old boy on the opposing team!
It's really hard to stop loving something that gives you so much joy as a child.
-Gaky
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