10 Years of Soccer

Lil Dawson with his very first soccer coach, Auntie Mindy!

I watch the young boy bound onto the soccer field, a vastness of green and possibility. With bursts of energy he learns, accomplishes, smiles, excels and sometimes fails. In the beginning there was a propensity for grace and words that build...the building of skills, confidence and acceptance.

I take in the sights and sounds. There is laughter moving through the engaging atmosphere with arms raised high in triumph. There are tears of defeat and chins that dust the chests of boys whose hope is spent...an invitation for the whole, the group, the family of teamship, to envelope and encourage. We ride the balance of learning and experience, growth. Health. We are all in this together.

Time passes. I look again for the boy on the field. When he turns, there is the face of a young man, little boy faded, with questioning eyes. I listen and yearn to see balance. Shoulders drop while his eyes and concentration fly away to meet the clouds, the ever inviting clouds where peace lives. I see it. The searching for his place. The game goes on but his involvement does not. His cleated feet run around the field while his heart pumps to the beat of disengagement.

New sounds surround with the buzz of voices, deeper, darker, harsh. The tentacles of discontentment writhe over youthful souls - competing to take root in the doubting. These young men, THEY STILL SEEK SIGNIFICANCE in the name of a game, in front of peers and parents, in the presence of themselves. Has this family of gathering lost sight, lost grip, of how to answer questioning young athletes in the raw, as they grow and change, continuing to ask, 'Am I worthy of being encouraged, believed in?' The whole is quiet, the health is still. A balance tipped.

Changes. A daily journey toward the answer...isn't that what life is? Push and pull, skill and doubt, learning and confusion, acceptance and grace. Who will influence for good, for destruction? Whose voice will be louder? Where is the health born of a crowd, a family, a team united?

Competition, it is certainly here in this place - but it is along the sidelines and it is deafening.

*'Character Based Coaching' & 'Coaching for Excellence and Significance' 

VS. 

criticism, negativity, chastisement and judgment. 

This is fierce SPIRITUAL competition and THAT day finally arrives, the day this soccer player walks off the field without a glance back. Many lessons learned and character molded. Ten years of negotiating a soccer ball about his feet, his friends, the turf.  All done.

2003                                                                                           2013

Hello to new endeavors!

Grace. A breeding ground for growth and elemental in the acceptance of self. Grace VS. Judgment. We are all invited to the giving and receiving of grace toward each other in the competition brought each and every day. Which team within will I let win today? And you?

*http://www.proactivecoaching.info/proactive/