Generally speaking, junior soccer is fun. Fun for the players, parents, community and the referees. Perhaps not the coach, but there's only one of them for every team.
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Therefore, it was a little perplexing to see that soccer didn't win out in the fun stakes this week. Even after two weeks of resting and no playing, this junior team decided there was something much more enjoyable to do at the oval. Roll down a hill. Yep, this team rejected the organised and well managed game that was on offer, and decided instead to – roll down a hill. Countless times. For countless hours. Whilst attracting many injuries and skin irritations.
As a human being past my fourth decade I was having trouble processing this activity in my head. Is that what I felt at a similar age? Was that my go-to activity as well? In the dim recesses of my slowly fogging child recollections, it perhaps seemed plausible. And watching them tear down the hill like beer barrels, careening into each other as if they were dwarves escaping from the elves of Rivendell, definitely looked like fun.
However, it is all about purpose isn't it? So, putting on the gruffest voice that an 8.30am Saturday morning will allow, I firmly banned the rolling down of hills and marched them to the sidelines so that the clearly concerned and anxious coach could fill the required number of players to stage a soccer match. The game itself was a little less inspiring than the rolling barrels and I did notice a number of players looking wistfully off the field towards the hill......