Our Sports and Beyond: Why Our Family Got Involved In The Soccer Community

Our 'Riopel' family got involved in the soccer community as players (kids), coaches (parents), soccer clubs board members, soccer sponsors, parent volunteers, and most of all as soccer fans.

My own experience as a parent

After watching my own kids played soccer (except for my 14 years old son, he still plays), playing soccer is fun. When a player started playing on a full-size field (at U-13), a player is not only playing soccer for the sake of playing or having fun. Each game becomes more competitive, the definition of “fun” has an added meaning to it. To be fun, is to “win” at least some of the games, if not all. Like any other sports, the reason you play is to win! Why even play when you have the attitude like, “oh, they are better team, we’re going to get owned today”. For a player who is always striving for his/her best, this statement is depressing. So, how can a soccer player make it beautiful for him/her? A more dedicated and serious player follows his/her instinct. Also, he/she has the ambition to find his/her full potential, willing to go the extra miles to get the necessary skills he/she needs to be best he/she can possibly be.

Watching famous soccer players

If you are investigative enough, most famous players like, Maradona, Zidane, Messi, Ronaldo, Rooney, Beckham, and many other great ones won’t be that famous and excelled on their games without the desires of being the best. Locally, as Canadians, we have our own great players too, like Sinclair, DeRosario and other past and current great Canadian players who entertained their fans, showed us why soccer is called “the beautiful game”. These players become role models to most fans, young and old.

Where to start for interested parents and future soccer players

If you are a parent who is finding some ways to keep your kids physically fit, occupy their time, play sport, probably keep them out of possible mischief, having a lot of time on not doing physical activities, introduce them to the sport of soccer “the beautiful game”. My youth soccer coach husband and I actually glad we did with our three kids. Our eldest played as far as U-21 PCSL, the second one played until U-15 Metro (but stopped and decided to play basketball instead), and the youngest U-15 is still playing and taking the SFU Soccer Training Clinic program as part of his chosen high school curriculum. This is his second year in the SFU Soccer Training Clinic program.

Anyway, back to you as a parent who likes to get your kids into the sport, if you have a young family, and want to introduce your kids to soccer, my advice, start them while they are young. Where to start? These days, with the availability of the Internet and great library resources, and watching games on television and in person, you won’t run out of helpful informational materials. But I suggest, start by buying your child a soccer ball as a present, take him/her out to a playing field and let your child play with the ball. You can use another child as a partner or even yourself as a personal coach and show him/her, the basic skills like: passing, receiving, dribbling, ball control, juggling, shooting and goalkeeping, or just letting your child being comfortable, touching the ball as much as possible.

Kids interested in playing soccer

Once you find out that your child has the interest to be a soccer player, find a local soccer club, registered him/her up for their seasonal league games. Registration fees of a U-6 to U-8 player, ranges from $80 to $150 for 5 to 6 months league, which includes at least one practice and one game each week, likely uniforms, and other soccer equipment, and yes, mostly run by volunteer coaches and administrative soccer clubs and district club volunteers. You’ll be surprised how your child will love it, and even as a parent, you will love the beauty of the sport too. My husband and I are two among thousands or millions of parents as living proofs, appreciate and love “the beautiful game”. The following are older pictures (a couple taken in 2008) that will always remind us on how soccer can be so fun.

How to be a better teammate?

Whatever the player does during his own time, and during team practices, he/she brings these skills during the game. Each player shows his/her skills on how to touch and play the ball with his/her whole body (except hands – just for the goalkeepers) and play beautifully as a team. Some players have exceptional skills that sometimes, even when the team losses, but when they know that they have shown their best, and just don’t have that extra luck like the other team, having played a lost game is still worth it. Great soccer players considered lost games as learning experience, and used them for next possible winning games.

In closing, surely, past or current great soccer players, young and old, amateur or professional, they too have their own soccer stories, and their own meaning of the “the beautiful game”. What’s yours?

The following pictures are taken from thousands of soccer photos and some videos collections I collected being an amateur soccer photographer for youth and adult soccer, both amateur or professional games, as a hobby.