Free at last, free at last...

Soccer is done for the season. Huzzah! Our very last game was on Saturday. David and I rented Londonderry pool and their conference room for an hour each to give the team a season-end party. We had only three kids unable to come (a better turnout than several of the games). The kids had a blast in the pool and a few of the parents helped us out by bringing drinks, chips, and some fruit and veggie trays to supplement the cupcakes and cookies we brought. 

The parents also came through with some donations to offset the cost of the rental, which was unnecessary but very much appreciated. Even better, we received a card they passed around and signed and gave us a restaurant gift card as a thank you for coaching this season. That meant a lot since through most of this I've felt we were somewhere on the spectrum between incompetent and adequate. We went into this knowing little about coaching or soccer. Several of the parents said we did a good job given how many kids we were dealing with and a couple asked if we were coming back to coach the same team in the spring outdoor league.

The league director seemed annoyed that we were having our party when we did. I guess the league does medals for all the kids and hopes to have the team pictures ready to give out. He thinks we should have waited a week or two to have our party. We (and several of the parents) disagree:

1) We didn't know that the season went on for another week for some of the teams at the time we booked the pool, which is the kind of booking that needs to be made in advance

2) We weren't given advance notice regarding the medals and photographs and it sounds like they still aren't sure that the photos will be ready for next weekend

3) A week or two later the celebratory mood will have faded

4) It's harder to round everyone up once we're not seeing them twice a week

5) Everyone was planning for January 31 to already be committed to soccer and may have made plans for future weekends since the expected to be soccer-free

I'm satisfied with the party choices we made, no matter what Soccer Guy thinks.

The crazy thing is that I think David and I are both kind of considering coaching again. Bizarre.