I'm a what?!

A mini soccer ball, originally uploaded by mickbab.

Soccer coach.

The title immediately throws me back to my childhood. My dad became my coach after a slightly blurry phone call came in when he was half asleep. I can still see him nodding along with the voice on the line and muttering the occasional yup, uh huh, and OK.
He was greatness. Perhaps it was because he had two girls, perhaps it is just the person that he is but he advocated for us. He knew there were things girls needed that were different than boys (longer shorts, for starters). His first year coaching quickly shed light to the unfairness that us girls faced in an otherwise male dominated sport. There were some coaches that would bench the girls for full games at a time. It's no wonder they took to playing in clover. Dad spearheaded the business case for implementing a girls only league. He continued to coach and became a convener for the district as well as a board member for the community centre. Talk about a plate full.

I got the call about a month ago. It was a quiet Saturday evening. I was buried in a fantastic book when the phone rang. It took a few moments of convincing from the convener but Coach Kristina was born. My son is ecstatic. I am nervous. A team full of mini people all turning to me for direction and no real qualifications or prior experience makes for trepidation. One thing I am sure of is that I want to be that parent - that parent that is involved. Maybe this is another way for me to make a difference in this world.

Fast forward to this evening. It has been raining all weekend. It is cold. The wind feels like one from October and not one for May. The ground is soppy wet. The club scheduled a coaching clinic for newbies. Naively thinking it would be held inside, I dressed light - a pair of jeans, t-shirt and light sweater. Imagine my frozen ass doing a shuffle dance trying to stay warm as we stood in the rain on the field learning the three basic elements of the game and simple drills to entertain the mini mites.

Coaching lesson #1 - Always come prepared for the weather.