Typical Coach Mentality

Son was playing Fall Soccer. This was his first season and he was really enjoying it. Then school started and he started having problems keeping up with his school work. And his attitude at school was less than stellar.

So I grounded Son. No TV, video games or anything fun. I didn't ground him from soccer though. I really wanted Son to make soccer work.

But the school work kept getting worse. The fights to get it done got worse. The attitude of Son at school, worse. So there really was only one more thing to take away. Yep. Soccer.

I really did give my decision LOTS of thought. Son was enjoying the game itself, his teammates and he also was getting exercise. He seemed to make progress with being a team player and other social skills that sometimes eludes Aspergers Kids. All pluses in my book.

And at practices, I would get to visit with my best friend while her kids practiced with their team. Another plus! Other than the smacks she would give me while she tried to say that she was saving me from another bug trying to eat me alive.

Was all the pluses enough to out weigh the negative of the school work? Could I stand all the fighting with Son to get the school work done? Did I have the patience to deal with this till Thanksgiving? Could I stand the bugs and the cold that was to come?

The final straw was when Son came home from school missing more of his homework than he actually brought home, as well as a couple of F's in the folder. I'm DONE. I cannot allow my son's school career, not to mention his friendships at school, to be put in jeopardy for soccer. There just weren't enough pluses in my book.

So on Friday, I called the coach and let him know what was up so he could plan on Son not playing on Sunday. On Sunday, we took Jacob's uniform to the coach. Here is the conversation, sort of:

Me: Sorry that I am pulling Jacob but school is more important.
Coach: This must have been a hard decision.
Me: NO. School comes FIRST.
Coach: (looking shocked that something could be more important than soccer) Oh. Well, maybe if he gets things together at school, he can come back.
Me: (in my head) What makes you think he will be able to handle this next week when nothing will have changed? Its obvious to ME that Son doesn't have the ability to get make the grades at school AND do an after school activity! YET. Someday, I hope he will!

But I digress: Since when is SOCCER more important than SCHOOL in the minds of coaches? Humph. What happened to needing good grades to continue playing on the sports teams?

Either way, I don't think Coach liked me very much.