Pulling The Keeper

This past fall, Bobby and Billy played their second season of soccer. Their first season, in the previous town that we lived in, was basically just a herd of four and five year olds chasing a soccer ball. There were no actual goals, or sidelines (at least that the kids were aware of), or rules really. A good game for the boys was one where they didn't throw themselves down on the ground crying.

This season was a bit of a shock to them. There were actual goals, sidelines, and kids playing specific positions. There was even a referee calling actual penalties. In the first game of the season, the ref called an 'indirect kick'. I think I laughed out loud at how far the boys were from having any idea what that meant.

Anyway, toward the end of the season, the kids started to get the hang of things. One game Bobby was playing goalie. At one point, the opposing team had the ball and got several shots on goal. Bobby amazingly saved every single one. At the other end of the field the boys' grandparents and myself were cheeringly wildly. In his defense, its possible that he didn't hear us cheering him on, since we were pretty far away. To put things in perspective, if the field was 100 yards long, we were about 90 yards away from where Bobby was tending the net.

As our team gained possession of the ball and drove down the field, our attention turned to the goal that we were attacking. We were watching the action, with our backs toward Bobby at the other end of the field. All of a sudden I hear this voice saying, "Dad! Dad! Did you see the saves I made? Did you?" I turned around and there was Bobby. About 5 yards away from me, grinning from ear to ear. About 85 yards from the goal that he was supposed to be defending!

For a second, my brain couldn't decode what my eyes were seeing. I quickly looked at the goal Bobby should have been standing in front of, thinking that maybe the coach had put someone else in to play. Nope, it was empty. As a knee jerk reaction I yelled "Bobby! What are you doing, get back in goal!!!" He continued to smile and again asked "Did you see my saves?!"

I couldn't help but smile and told him that I did, adding 'You're doing a great job...but you have to get back there!!!!". Bobby quickly ran back into his position, and fortunately no harm was done.

(As a side note, that wasn't the first or last time that Bobby and/or Billy walked off the field in the middle of the game. But it was the only time one of them left the goal to do it. Other times the reasons for leaving the field ranged from being tired, to wanting to play with their baby brother, to simply having something to tell Grandma about (completely unrelated to the game). They don't seem to work on the 'not leaving the playing field in the middle of the game' skill at practice, so we'll have to work on it a bit before next season!)