You can call me Mr. Coach

Now, back in the day, I was a soccer player. I played until I was about 13 and I played on the competition team from Bountiful. On my team back then, I played left forward alongside the future MVP for high school soccer. But, I gave up soccer when I realized that more people would watch me play basketball than they would watch me playing soccer. Just kidding. Kind of. But nearly 20 years have passed since those glory soccer days and my knowledge of the game has gone by the wayside even though I do catch the occasional English Premier League game and even some Real Salt Lake games.

So, we put Carter on a team along with a bunch of boys and girls from the neighborhood on the 5 and under soccer Impact team. Well, my sister in law Erin decided it was my turn to coach the kids and take over this assignment for the upcoming year. She is coaching one of her boys and the parents of the rest of the kids happily volunteered me to take over the coaching duties. As Erin said, 'They are too young for your coaching to ruin them in the future.' Thanks for the vote of confidence.

Carter played last year and had little interest. He loved looking around at the parents. He loved looking at the grass and running around. But, he rarely kicked the ball. This year has been different as he is now trying and he kicks the ball and is actually playing. We are very proud parents.

Right now, my brilliant coaching strategies are paying off. We don't keep 'official' track of the scores or the records, but my team is standing strong with wins of 5-1, 4-2 and just this past Saturday, a tense and hard fought 4-3 victory. But who is keeping track? In fact, Carter scored his first goal. Now, he kicked into his own net, but he still scored! I was about to turn him around, but he worked very hard to get in position to kick it into his own goal. It was funny that the other team's players tried to take the ball away from him, but Carter was strong and he shook off the other players and drilled the ball into the back of the net. The crowd went crazy about it as well, cheering him on.

So, for now, I will continue to yell and scream at my players to get the best out of them. Swearing, yelling and acting crazy have had a great affect on the players and they are very appreciative of my intense coaching style. And just remember, we are not keeping track, but we are 3-0 and my players: Keegan, Alexia, Sam, Max, Carter, Peyton, Dustin and Necie will continue to make me look good.