Superfail

I love this picture of Satchel. With a few tweaks it could totally have been me in 1982. After I snapped this photo he actually said, "I'm so glad they invented remote controls." And then in a true moment of old lady-ness I told him about when I was little and how we used to actually get up to change the channel.



Anyways, lest you think the subject of this post was a tease, I will move on to the superfail of the weekend...

On Saturday we had a full day of soccer. My team, which includes Jiro, played first. They did great and we won 2-0. (Yay, Mean Green!)

Next, we went to Second Presbyterian for Satchel's pictures and then his game against Idlewild. This is only the second time I've gotten to see him play and he did great. He almost scored a goal, but the goalie beat him to the ball. I was thrilled just to have him in the right place at the right time.

At half time, he came over to get his water and was really upset about missing the goal. I tried to give him a pep talk, but he could not be consoled. Once the second half started, I could see him near tears on his bench. (He had played nearly the entire first half.)

Being his mother, his number one fan, and a soccer coach, I took it upon myself to walk over to the bench and attempt pep talk v2. He basically told me to go away and leave him alone. As I was walking back, Coach Kyle stopped me and we chatted about my game. Then I let him know Satchel was upset. He was surprised and said he'd talk to him. By the time I got back to my seat I could see Kyle talking to him and then it was 100% clear that Satchel was in tears.

Oh my.

He managed to pull himself together and get back in the game. After the game, which they won in a last second goal, he seemed fine.

But the subject came up later and it was clear that Satchel was still very much upset about his performance and my subsequent attempts to cheer him up. First off, he played fine! Geez! Second, I probably should have stayed out of it. Fine. But man was he mad at me. I think part of it was him being tired and cranky about other things, but I am officially not looking forward to him being a teenager. Basically he said the more I tried to cheer him up, the worse he felt. And he thought the nice things I said were just lies because I'm his mom and as a coach I tell everyone they played good, even if they didn't, and therefore all compliments I give are meaningless.

I told him I was sorry and believe me I won't make the same mistake again, but dang. Superfail.

And yes, I know I cannot truly be 100% responsible for ruining his life on Saturday despite his proclamations, but I truly just wanted to make him feel better. Apparently I have lost that power.