Week 9 has come and gone. When I look at the team sheets for the team we are to play, trying to decide on my starting structure I can only chuckle as I think back to the BS meeting where I was told over and over that my team was too strong and had to be taken down a notch. I lost 3 of my strongest players and then wasn't allowed any imput on their replacements. If a player looked like they could walk and chew gum at the same time they were judged to be too strong for my team and replaced with a... um... well... less skilled candidate. Please don't misunderstand and think that I don't like the kids. I do, very much so. Even the one I have a hard time not strangling and then using his body to beat his parents over the head with... (how do you do that strikeout thing again?) OK, so they're all good kids and we're there to have fun. But when the three players I was given so that I would have enough to field a team were all rejected, I mean selected from other teams because of listening/behavior issues, it does make it a little difficult to get any unit cohesion.
Anyway, I went in to Saturday's game expecting a loss. OK, truthfully I expected to get blown clean out of the water. We were facing another team that magically was able to add more players who requested the coach after the season started. Those players are pretty good, but not spectacular. Except when you realize that because he was a new coach I suggested we put Ba, B, and K on his team to help him get started. Those three are some of our top notch REALLY outstanding players from the club team. The theory was that they'd be his core of stability while he brought his new team together. But when you add those three to a team of pretty good players you now have a juggernaut. Ba is a force to reckon with. He and LL are friends and teammates for the club team but they are both very strong alpha types. Ba is stronger defensively and LL is stronger creatively so when they work together it's great but when they butt heads... well, you know. Add to that B from my team who has really come on as a player as I've been giving him private coaching for the last 8 months preparing him for the club team has suddenly discovered a rockstar aspect to his personality. He has decided passing is for lesser mortals. All things considered I was not betting on our team to win.
The other coach predictably put Ba, B, and K as a three man attack and put strong defenders behind them. What I didn't expect is that he never subbed those three out. He merely rotated the rest of the team through the defensive positions for the whole game. I put my kids on the field with a weak frontline, strong midfield, ok defense, and decent goalie. LL wasn't feeling well so I started with him on the bench. The other team had us pinned back by three points in the opening 5 minutes. Ba was just dribbling circles around my kids. My keeper was upset but I reassured him that he couldn't have stopped those goals unless he suddenly grew, so he should just relax and have fun. I put LL in his midfield anchor role with B and J up front. I was pleased to see that LL had brought his can do attitude and was willing to work for things. He'd fight and recover the ball then pass up to B only for B to refuse to pass back out and lose possession again. Then B quit running back to get the ball, so I benched him. Now I had LL on the field as a top drawer player with J as a good worker but not much of a force going forward. K and L, my girls hadn't seen eachother in two weeks and really wanted to chill on the bench and catch up on whatever it is seven year old girls talk about. So I had C in the midfield (he falls every third step) and S next to him. Fortunately S can make it about eight steps before falling over, but he inevitably knocks one of his teammates over when he falls. LL and J managed to tie the game up before halftime through pure hard work and desire.
I spoke to B and asked if he wanted to be part of the team or if I should just send him out there and let the rest of the team hang out on the bench. He said he understood so I put him back out there. He and LL were upfront with J and K behind them and S and S in defense with C in the goal. LL and B were passing and moving well and B scored a nice shot from the outside corner. Then LL recovered the ball inside the center circle while B was screaming for the ball in front of the goal. LL tried to pass it to him, but couldn't get an open lane as B was staying on the left side of the box. LL started to the left, pulled a dummy move, and cut back to the right which gave him a half second to do something. He still didn't have an angle on B and he had two players charging him so he shot. From inside the center circle, just short of half field. And he hit it right in the top right corner. He just smiled and ran back to high five his teammates when B ran up and started screaming at him for not passing. I was shocked. B was red-faced, spittle flying, screaming just inches from LL's face. LL was just startled and mortified. Then B shoved him. Then LL punched him in the face. Then LL stands over him and yells, "Are you fucking stupid?!?"
At that point B and LL both get blue carded which means I have to take them off the field for two minutes each and the team has to play short. B's dad, who is a friend of mine, was on the bench by the time I got them off the field and led B away. The only thing I heard was him asking "are you hurt? no? Then LL should have hit you harder, you deserved it."
LL sat on the bench without argument and when the game got going again quietly asked, "am I grounded?"
I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or yell so I just asked him which infraction was worthy of grounding - punching his teammate or dropping the F bomb. I told him we'd deal with that afterwards and that he could go back in the game after his penalty time ran out. He went back in and played his heart out scoring a couple more times and making a beautiful assist from the left when he made a run down the line, shielding the ball from the defender the whole way. When he was about ten feet from the goal at full speed he stepped up on the ball with his right foot while spinning his body so he did a 360, coming out of his twist now on the inside and about three steps away from the defender. The goalie still had the angle covered so rather than wasting the shot LL passed across the goal mouth to J who tapped it in.
We lost the game by four points and finished without B - parental vicegrips, L - shot blocked with her nose, K - shot blocked with her stomach, and S - split lip on ground when he fell over from a standing position during a water break.
With that we have fallen solidly into second position with a 7-2 record.
B's parents were frustrated with me afterwards when we were all standing around. They ordered B apologize to LL, which he did ith a typical 7 year old's snear. I asked if LL had something to say and he said "no". I reminded him what had happened and he responded with all the sincerety this seven year old could manage, "I'll get in more trouble if I lie so I won't apologize. I'm not sorry I hit B and if he screams and pushes me like that I'll do it again." I honestly couldn't argue with that logic so I told him fair enough and we all dispersed. I, of course, dealt with the hitting and swearing issues at home, but I really couldn't fault him for refusing to give a false apology. I spoke to B's parents later about it so hopefully the air is clear on the adult side. The kids will just have to figure it out on their own.
One more game then this season and my life as a rec league coach at the complex will come to a close.