Sunday, June 9, 2013

Keeping the faith

A bit out of order, as this is the last topic I have missed, but we are to share a "Chicken Soup for the Soul" story that either happened to you personally or you witnessed. (If you've never read the CSftS books, they're these sweet, heartwarming stories.)

I haven't talked much about the situation with Sam's soccer in this forum.  I didn't really have anything appropriate to say about it.  Sam's coach is a world class jerk. He is belittling to the kids, and as a result we have ended up changing soccer clubs.  Yes, we would have another coach.  But, Sam was done.



The one bright spot was keeper training.  Sam's keeper coach (KC) showed Sam enough kindness to make up for the lack of kindness that the other coach showed him.  In the end it wasn't enough to make him stay.

KC, brought Sam little treats, which he would dole out at the end of practice.  He always had a kind word to say to Sam.  He expected a lot, but he taught Sam with a gentle patience that was perfect. Sam is a gentle soul, and yelling at him and treating him poorly is not likely to get you the result you want.


I complained about the mean coach, and this was when I learned that KC's favorite kid was Sam.  KC had always told me that he liked my son.  From the very beginning he would tell me that Sam was a really great kid and he really liked having him at practice. 

Over this year, our bond with KC grew.  Seeing him was the highlight of Sam's week. Of course, because Sam loved him so much, how could the rest of us not fall in line?  After winter break when we went to our first keeper practice, Sam said he sort of wanted to give KC a hug because he had missed him so much.  Sam was so excited to see him.

So you can imagine leaving the club brought with it a sadness because we were leaving this man that we had become incredibly attached.  We gave him a gift and tried to express how important he was to us.  I am pretty sure we didn't do a very good job.  In the end, I cried.  It was so embarrassing.  But, with his calm and patient way, KC ignored me.  

As we were leaving, broken hearted, KC told us that we were welcome to practice with him anytime we wanted.  No matter that we were no longer affiliated with the club, or the other clubs he trained.  We could come any where he was.  I looked at him in disbelief, and said, are you sure?  He said, yes, so emphatically that there was no question in my mind that he would tell anyone who had an issue with it to pound salt.

So while we are leaving the club, we are not loosing KC.  We hope that this materializes, because we really don't want to loose him, he is our favorite too.

Check out the other ladies at:  FroggieMomarock, and Merrylandgirl


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