Anger fuels me this morning.
I have truly put a lot into this soccer experience for Ken and the boys. I have coached. I have team parented. I have accepted a position on the board. I have spent countless hours working for this region, all with the hopes that the boys enjoy their soccer playing and fondly remember their time with this sport the way I do. Instead, I find myself frustrated, annoyed and ready to fight.
The U8 program doesn’t have playoffs. U8 is still considered too young (which as a side note is complete and utter BULLSHIT on so many levels) to handle this kind of competition. However, U8 is the time in which the region tries to recruit parents to volunteer for the many jobs that need to be done. One of the big things is referees. Let’s face it, not a whole lot of people want to spend time being ref on a game. Aside from not being interested, we just don’t have the time. So many of the parents I have spoken to have multiple kids that all play on other teams or have classes they are a part of or family obligations that barely allow them to be there for the one game a week. Yet we as a region really try to “encourage” them to show up for more.
The U8 program has an incentive for parents to volunteer to referee. Your child will still get a full season if you do nothing, but they could play an additional 2 weekends if your team recruits new referees. Last year, this program was in effect. Instead of just adding new refs, they were ok with your recruits earning points for how many games they covered. Our team was one of 2 (out of about 12 teams) that actually qualified for this. This would mean that these two teams could play more. However, since there was only 2 teams, the region ended up scrapping the program and let everyone play. The two teams who did do the work were not rewarded. However, the coach’s ended up getting checks cut for $50 long after the season was done, which makes no sense whatsoever.
So this brings us to this season. They opted to change the rules to have each team recruit 3 new refs. Mind you, all the teams have 9 players. This means you had to get a third of your families to participate. Yeah, that’s doable, in fucking fantasy land.
Our team convinced one dad (who is a sweetheart) to ref. Most teams didn’t even get one, and about 4 got 1 ref. Yet based on these insane requirements, not one team had qualified. But since Ken knew how much work some of these teams did put into the program, and he knew how badly these teams wanted to play, he approved their entry into the Jamboree Program (the name of this whole fiasco). Everyone is happy, or so we thought.
Ken put in a request to the ref coordinator to enter online the scheduled games into the referee scheduling program so he could start assigning people to games. This particular fellow, a complete idiot for other reasons, decided that the weekend right before the Jamboree began, yet after everyone was notified, that he would cause a giant stink.
Ken ended up on a conference call with said dumb fuck and the RC and then had a subsequent in person meeting last night with the RC and the Assistant RC. Ken and I did have a chance to pow wow before that meeting. Read: Gena yelled and screamed about the injustices of this move and Ken almost sent Gena to fight this one because she had even more passion than he did.
Ken fought hard. He yelled and did my kicking and screaming yet the RC didn’t budge. He didn’t want to see that we as a region fucked up. His only argument that he stuck with was that if the upper divisions caught wind of these exceptions, they would holler. Never you mind that U8 doesn’t count towards any kind of playoffs nor do they get to move forward if they win this Jamboree. Our program isn’t the same as upper divisions, and as a people involved with trying to keep kids in sports, perhaps we don’t tell them to fuck off!!!!!
I drafted a letter to the RC as an Executive Board Member. I know, who thought it was a good idea to let me of all people have that kind of a title? I have not sent it as of yet as Ken sent me an email after I went to “sleep” that said he had some more ideas. So at this point I have the letter pending. I also may end up not only burning some bridges with this letter, I may set fire to the whole fucking city. I told Ken last night that he really should bail on this U8 coordinator position.
I just sent the letter with a handful of more mods and we shall see who I piss off.
Ok, on to better topics.
The weekend was actually pretty good before this soccer bullshit. Our Thanksgiving down at Legoland was awesome! We got down there early, which meant we were the first people in the park. It wasn’t really crowded, but it certainly was not empty. It seemed to me that the park was not prepared for just how many people would be showing up to spend their holiday at the park, but in spite of all of that, we were able to ride many rides and see just about everything.
On Friday, we decorated the house. The tree was put up, and lights and other items also now adorn our humble abode. We even put away extra boxes and made the place look really nice. It was almost like we were organized or something. What is up with that???
When we put up the tree, the boys’ little friends from across the street helped decorate, which was super cute. They also shared our turkey dinner on Saturday, which was a great way to have that meal.
On Sunday, we decided to go bowling with my dad and Matt. It was fun, and the boys were in hog heaven. Both of them did really well and were excited the whole 3 games, which I think is a first. The bowling alley people remember them and were happy to see them. They have grown a lot in a year!
Sadly, Ken pulled a muscle in his leg to the point where he actually had to stop bowling the third game. He had a hard time standing! We got home and he iced it and mainly sat on the couch entertaining the boys with Wii.
I decided to use this time for good. I snagged Dax and he and I went out shopping for a Christmas present for both Bobby and Ken from him. He chose wisely and we did a couple more stops before heading home where he helped me wrap them. This meant there were not only decorations up, but actual shopping done! What is up with that?!?!?
I considered taking Bobby, but he was less inclined to partake in shopping. So instead, I took the boys and Luna, leaving Ken to soak in the tub, and we went to the Redondo Beach dog park.
Luna had never been, nor had the boys. All three of them were entranced. Luna’s excitement resulted in a full on foamy mouth. The boys were delighted and both spent a great deal of time throwing tennis balls for various dogs that greeted them with enthusiasm. It was really cool!
There was a guy down there with a Golden who was the same age as Luna. His pup was about twice the size of Luna, though. Luna took to this guy (well, and every person down there) and he told me how impressive she had been for it being only her first time at a dog park. I took great pride in this compliment. I am looking forward to taking her back!
It was a good 4 days off. I managed to sleep in a bit. I managed to do a few long overdue projects. I had fun with the kids and critters and truly, aside from this soccer drama last night, it was a great weekend.
Oh, and it will be an interesting holiday what with two silly kittens and a tree. Holy crap, those girls could not get enough of the Christmas tree.
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