Contributed by Peggy

Recently I had the opportunity to attend my youngest grandson’s first soccer practice. Evan is five years old and totally excited about the game of soccer. The day of his first practice he was dressed in complete soccer gear by early morning and spent the entire day practicing kicks and running drills. He thought 5:30pm would never come.

His dad finally arrived home from work just in time to take him to the fields. It was a very cold February day with the temperature in the twenties and a brisk north wind blowing. We arrived at the soccer fields and began to search for a team of five-year-olds, but all we saw were fields filled with much older, bigger players. Soon a coach approached us and after shaking hands with Evan introduced him to the other players who were all at least a foot taller!

Since this was his very first team sport experience, Evan watched the other boys as they went through their motions to make sure he would do it right when it was his turn. The practice lasted about an hour and Evan never missed a beat (other than the two times he had to impatiently wait as his dad re-tied his shoes). He raced across the field with the bigger boys, participated in every drill, and even played in the two-on-two scrimmages.

Only after practice was it discovered that the YMCA had made a mistake and had put Evan on a team of nine-year-olds! I’m not sure he was ever aware of that during the practice. He never mentioned being cold and was quite disappointed when it was time to go home.

I thought to myself, “Why is it that I’m so focused on the temperature, the wind chill, and the giant size of the opponents, while Evan just enjoys himself?” I think I’m going to learn a lot watching my grandkids.