My 15 year old son plays REP soccer. A few weekends ago our Soccer Association hosted a tournament, so naturally I invited friends and family to watch. My best friend came for the last match, and as I was cheering the players on, she leaned over and said "You are a Hockey Mom". A Hockey mom? How did I become one of those?!
When my son was three we lived out of town. I figured the only way to get him socializing was to put him into a team sport. Against the wishes of my now ex husband, I put the boy into the City run soccer program. Soccer was cheap, it didn't involve early morning so to me, it was perfect.
I spent a couple of years standing at the side of the field while my son picked dandelions,watched the clouds float by and eventually ran with the rest of the herd after the ball.
The City program (sponsored by McDonald's restaurant) ends at the age of 6 and the next step is the local Soccer Association.It was a little different then the city run program, and we needed to purchase equipment. I managed to find soccer cleats for under $5 at Wal-Mart.I have to confess we didn't invest in shin pads & soccer socks for a couple more years, though looking back I wish I had-the right equipment makes playing so much more enjoyable.
How much field time your kid got was dependent on the volunteer coach. If your coach was a hockey dad who had winning on the brain and if your kid wasn't highly skilled he didn't get much time. My son spent a year on a Hockey Dads team, he played little & they won all the time. The next year he had a fantastic coach who worked on developing all of his players & the kids got equal time. They didn't win much and when my son complained I had to remind him that he got more play time. Apparently winning is better then playing at that age.
After a several years of standing on the sidelines or sitting on the grass, I invested in a lawn chair, one of those canvass ones that fold up & get stuffed into a bag. Typical soccer mom accessories are: lawn chair, umbrella and blanket. Don't forget the sunscreen if it's nice out! For some reason soccer season here is usually miserable. I ended up buying long johns & wearing gloves one particularly nasty year.
When my son was 10 he decided to try out for the REP team with a bunch of his friends. None of them made the grade & he was crushed to get cut from the team. The next year he tried out again,and again was cut. Fortunately one of his coaches decided to throw together a U11 development team because there were enough boys interested. We got to go on several tournaments that year, and the next year the majority if the development team moved up and became the U12 REP team. They made Provincials that year, the goal of every REP team.
The year my son made REP I upgraded to a golf umbrella and spent $25 on a pair of Wilson cleats and bought shin pads with a hard shell instead of the softer pads he had been playing with. I figured if he was serious about it then he needed better equipment. The next year he stopped a ball and the impact cracked his shin pad in half. I hate to think of what would have happened if I hadn't bought those harder pads. So in between games it was off to Canadian Tire to buy a new pair. We picked up a pair of Adidas shin pads which he's still using.
The next season I decided that if the kid was going to play hard, he needed better cleats, so I shelled out $150 for a pair of leather Umbro's. He got almost two seasons out of those until they fell apart (back cleats fell off) & I had to send him down to Gerricks Cycle & Sport with his Gramma for a new pair. $200+ later..... I also decided to upgrade my chair and bought a fantastic one from Zellers that has a canopy. It also has shoulder straps so it can be carried like a backpack-something necessary because it must weigh around 25 lbs!
So thirteen years of soccer, sunburns and soakings, countless road trips and money spent-I've earned my right to do a little 'hockey mom' cheering-and yes, I know each boy on that team by name!