Oh, Soccerday

Today was a rough day in our house, for the most part. We traveled both near and far for our soccer games. K and CED headed out at 9:20 this morning to go 2 1/2 hours north to Greeley. The girls played against their toughest competitors and they ended up losing. I won't rehash scores (it was rough) and CED was in tears when I talked to her on the phone at the end of the game. So, their undefeated streak is over, but I think this was an eye-opener for the girls that they can't just skate through a game - they have to give it their all all the time. And they didn't do that today.
JADs game was equally rough. His game was in Denver this afternoon, so after JEDs game, the four other kids and I headed up there and met K and CED as they headed south towards home. It wasn't a pretty game, either, and JAD didn't say more than 10 words to me on the hour twenty minute ride home. He was peeved beyond belief and at the end of the game refused to run the field with his teammates. He's not competitive or anything. To make matters worse, he overheard his coach say to the ref before the game, "This is going to be a bad game because our key player isn't here." His coach has consistently played favorites more and more this last season and it's really becoming an issue because he clearly favors two or three players and is pretty dismissive of the rest of the team. And downright rude and nasty to others. We may have a couple of boys on the team that aren't 'naturals' at soccer, but you certainly don't put them down day after day in front of all the other boys. JAD is really upset about the comment today and, obviously, so am I (as I go on with my mini-tirade about this).
JEDs game, fortunately, is a better story. His coach asks him every day before the game to 'go score goals.' We've even gone so far as to offer him $0.50 per goal. Well, today we have to pay up. JED scored four goals and was certainly the MVP for his team today! They ended up tied at 5-5, but JED was quite happy with the results.
I always love going to watch all of my kids play soccer, but I'm really glad today is over. Whew.