Pink And Proud

My daughter has a screaming pink pair of soccer socks that she wears when she wants to inspire herself to play especially well.  She calls them the “pink socks of ferociousness.”  I love that kid.

She’s had some soccer drama surrounding her lately, mostly centered on trying to figure out where she should play next year.  (It’s tryout season again, meaning that teams are being chosen for fall 2018/spring 2019.)  To make a very long story short in an attempt not to bore you all to tears, she’s currently playing on two teams, one her own age and one a year up, but neither for various reasons is the best fit for her.  We’ve been looking at other area teams in her age group, even though that would involve her moving to a different club.  Right now all three of my kids play for the same club and we like it a lot as an organization, so that’s not ideal.

We had her try out at a couple of the clubs and subsequently found ourselves in a position where we really needed some guidance.  I called the director of player development at the current club, whom I know well, and explained the situation.  While he *really* doesn’t want her to go, he understands our thought process.  Over the course of a twenty-minute conversation, he outlined what he thought should happen with her if she stays and told us that in his opinion one of the other clubs we were looking at was a good call and that the second should be removed from consideration immediately.  Then, to his unending credit, he told us that we should also look at a team we hadn’t even considered, at which a man he knows personally coaches her age group at a high level.  He subsequently called the guy and said we were coming to the next tryout and to keep an eye out for her.

Last night, Petunia donned the pink socks of ferociousness and we went to check out this newly recommended club.  We haven’t heard anything official yet and won’t till Sunday, but our back channel suggests that she will likely receive an offer for their top team.  There isn’t a rush to settle this and we have some time, but I’m so proud of my girl that I could pop.  Not because she (supposedly) made the team, but because she’s a fierce and brave little soul who will charge headlong into a tryout full of total strangers on two days’ notice, armed only with pink socks!

Oh, and I can’t say enough good things about our player development guy either.  His willingness to go the extra mile (or hundred) to get her on the right team for her even though it might mean she ends up playing for another club speaks volumes about his integrity and how much he cares about the kids.