Life of a Soccer Mom

I never thought in a million years that I would ever consider myself a soccer mom. We all have that quintessential picture in our minds of what we envision as a typical soccer mom. But me? Not so much.

For starters, I don’t drive a mini-van. Isn’t that a pre-requisite to be a soccer mom?

I don’t drive to and from practice or games with 10 kids in tow—just my daughter.

When I arrive at her games, I wear glitter encrusted flip-flops in lieu of sneakers and a team shirt.

After 5 years of watching my daughter play soccer, I still don’t know the rules and know what’s going on half the time, so when i see an off-sides call, I have no idea how it happened.

I actually do take the time to put makeup on as an attempt to not appear tired or bored.

I’m really not your typical soccer mom in any sense of the word.

Conventional stereotypes aside, I am still a soccer mom.

My day really isn’t that hectic given my current unemployed status, but once my daughter arrives home from school, everything goes into fast forward and we’re off.

She immediately runs to her bedroom and changes for that evening’s practice session. grabs a water and we’re out the door. And that is just on Tuesdays and Fridays.

On Thursdays there is a required scrimmage for all intermediate level players to participate for an hour and a half, and Friday evenings after their regular practice, they have pre-tryout arsenal camp. And of course, they still have their scheduled games every Saturday—sometimes early mornings, and sometimes mid-afternoon—but inevitably, it ends up being a day filled with running around and exhaustion afterwards.

In addition to their 3-day scheduled tryouts for Arsenal in early June, they will participate in the Choice City Soccer Tournament all in the same week—and of course, there will be practices to coincide with that as well.

Pretty much our soccer-filled lives have become 5-6 days a week.

Recently, we have braved the games in not-so-ideal weather conditions, but overall as we enjoyed watching the camaraderie between the girls and their coaches and our socializing with the parents while we root our girls on for a win over the years, it has become quite refreshing.

Complaints aside, we have come to accept that soccer is a big part of our lives, and may be in the future as well, but we do know that as we continue to support our daughter’s chosen sport, we will continue to enjoy watching her compete and watch with awe and amazement as she and her teammates grow, mature and excel. Because honestly, we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Suzanne