An adios to my sons youth/college career

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Nah.

The greatest love you can show him is to let him live his life. Mutzo has it right - he has to make his own mistakes.

For you, the worrying will never stop. Never a day goes by without me worrying about my eldest. She (I hope) hasn't got time or space in her life to think as often about me - that's as it should be. Parenting is tough....

But pressure your boy toomuch now and you might push him away.

Good luck
 
An American soccer story

My son did not play out his four years in college, and at first, it bothered him less than me. BUT, he loved the college that soccer got him into, but shortly found out that, HAD it not been for soccer he might not have had the academic credentials to make it in on his own.

Yes, his High school GPA was awesome, but his SAT's were average. He found the constant grind of difficult practices, and making good grades at odd ends with each other. He also got into the social aspect of the campus and loved just being with his friends. He also found that he had a really diffucult time adjusting to the weather up north. He had no problem with playing in 85+ weather, but the 50-* really bothered him, and his asthma started flaring up. And in the end, maybe that D1 program was a bit beyond his urge to compete and play. His toenails fell off, his health started to fail and that need to succeed was not there, that need, that made him a great club player, vanished in college, with the need to make good grades, hang with friends, and to explore what he really wanted in life.

For a youth soccer parent, like myself, I loved watching him play. Yes, it is tied up with your own ego. It is your kid that is playing so well, and it makes you feel good, like a soccer drug. When it ends, well, it is cold turkey, so to speak. You are not getting that fix of gratification. It is a difficult thing to let go. At least for me it was.

What happened in the end was surprising. After my son quit playing, I felt myself falling in love with the sport even more. Just the sport. I started following a professional soccer team, and routing for them. Trying to find all the frustrating streaming live feeds that would show the game, and the team that I now love. Everton.

My son, without the demands, now watches the game on the TV much more. Watches them with his friends at school and now appreciates the games played at the top level, EPL, more than he ever did when he was young. (He really never did when he was young), and now does all the time. I guess as his career evolved over the years, the two of us grew into the soccer fans that, at the youth club level, we never were.

Maybe at the end, this is an American soccer story, and how bit by bit, US soccer will grow, and how the rest of the world will quit saying that we lack passion for the game.
 
Last edited:
thebes20 said:
My son did not play out his four years in college, and at first, it bothered him less than me. BUT, he loved the college that soccer got him into, but shortly found out that, HAD it not been for soccer he might not have had the academic credentials to make it in on his own.

Yes, his High school GPA was awesome, but his SAT's were average. He found the constant grind of difficult practices, and making good grades at odd ends with each other. He also got into the social aspect of the campus and loved just being with his friends. He also found that he had a really diffucult time adjusting to the weather up north. He had no problem with playing in 85+ weather, but the 50-* really bothered him, and his asthma started flaring up. And in the end, maybe that D1 program was a bit beyond his urge to compete and play. His toenails fell off, his health started to fail and that need to succeed was not there, that need, that made him a great club player, vanished in college, with the need to make good grades, hang with friends, and to explore what he really wanted in life.

For a youth soccer parent, like myself, I loved watching him play. Yes, it is tied up with your own ego. It is your kid that is playing so well, and it makes you feel good, like a soccer drug. When it ends, well, it is cold turkey, so to speak. You are not getting that fix of gratification. It is a difficult thing to let go. At least for me it was.

What happened in the end was surprising. After my son quit playing, I felt myself falling in love with the sport even more. Just the sport. I started following a professional soccer team, and routing for them. Trying to find all the frustrating streaming live feeds that would show the game, and the team that I now love. Everton.

My son, without the demands, now watches the game on the TV much more. Watches them with his friends at school and now appreciates the games played at the top level, EPL, more than he ever did when he was young. (He really never did when he was young), and now does all the time. I guess as his career evolved over the years, the two of us grew into the soccer fans that, at the youth club level, we never were.

Maybe at the end, this is an American soccer story, and how bit by bit, US soccer will grow, and how the rest of the world will quit saying that we lack passion for the game.
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