Change of Plans

Sometimes things don't go exactly as planned.  And using mother's intuition, I know to trust my gut when something doesn't feel right.

We attended one practice of Ellie's new soccer team and it just didn't feel right.  And when Ellie got in the car afterward and said, "I don't want to play soccer any more," I knew to trust my gut.

Texas takes their sports very seriously.  Apparently training them young for travel teams and committing to YOUR sport before middle school.  Yet, as parents, Bill and I still have choices.

The coach was a drill sergeant, he including his two high school-aged sons - and one was obnoxious and made fun of the girls.  And there were 3 practices a week in the Texas heat.  Our goal was to ensure she continued to learn how to work as a team, develop good skills and enhance her love of the sport.

I gave it a couple days and then asked her at the dinner table, "What would Coach Frank want you to do?"  She said, "to keep playing..." And then I said, "What if I found a way for you to keep playing, but with a different team?"  Her eyes lit up.

Wednesday night was her first practice with the new team.  So she went from Tiger Lilies in Bloomington to this new team called, Pink Sprinkles ... immediately she told me the team name was not fierce enough!  Well what the name lacks in toughness will have to be made up on the field, I told her!

There's a lot of pink in this league.  Apparently all little girls are supposed to like pink.  Ellie doesn't. She'd prefer black and white, and purple occasionally.  But not pink.  All the teams have pink.  Oh dear.

The practice on Wednesday went great.  Husband and wife team, Tony and Shonda are a great team.  Ellie recognized two girls from school - Hannah and Grace.  Whew - crisis averted!

Sometimes a change of plans works out exactly the way its supposed to work!