Three Years in the Making

Landon has been in a soccer for three years now. We also tried baseball, and he learned to pick grass. We tried basketball and he avoided the ball. He's just not a competitive person. In fact, last week he told me he didn't want to win because he didn't want the other team to feel bad, and knew they would have such a great feeling inside when they won. Now, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that; I love that he is so sensitive to other people's feelings. But, I must admit that sometimes I do wish he would just go out and kick some ass.

Emma has been in dance and gymnastics over the last two years, but wanted to try out a competitive sport. We've known for a while that she's very competitive, which came to light during our first "Wii Sports Family Fun Night" that turned out to be "Not So Fun Unless Emma Wins Night". So, we signed her up for soccer this year and I was excited to see how she handled her first soccer game.

Landon's first game was last Saturday and was the same as the previous year...Landon doing his best while making jokes, running back and forth and having a blast. They lost the game and he couldn't have been any more pleased with the day. He had so much fun and couldn't stop talking about the great snacks. Then he and I drove quickly to try and make some of Emma's game which overlaps Landon's each week (and at a different park, SO awesome).

To my surprise, Emma was doing the same thing as Landon...running around the ball, but never actually connecting. When she came to the sidelines, I asked her why she wasn't kicking the ball and she said she just couldn't get close to it because everyone was in the way. I told her to just be aggressive and get in there. Her coach called her name and she went out there and took control of the ball and scored. When she came back in, she said, "like that?" I said, "yes, that was great" and she replied, "yea, it wasn't really that hard after all".

This morning, Landon's game was bright and early at 8:00. (I'm getting to the point of the story, I promise, I just had to set the scene so you'll understand my excitement.) He went out there and did the same old stuff. When he came to the sidelines, I asked him if he remembered how Emma scored last week by getting just a little more aggressive. That sparked quite a fire in him. I'd like to think it was my excellent motivational skills, but in reality, it was the thought of his little sister showing him up. After three years of trying to find his competitive side, I found that he only wants to win when it's Emma he is competing against. He gained control of the ball several times and he....wait for it.....SCORED!!!

He rocked. He totally rocked. I'm so proud of him for going out there and trying something that was completely out of his element. After the game was over, he confided in me that he didn't really mind if the other team was sad, because it felt so good to make a goal.