This is High School Soccer

There's so much to be said for being involved in your high school. Whether that is drama, band, sports or some other club or extracurricular activity it gives you a sense of belonging especially when you are coming in as a freshman. I'm a big fan of getting involved and that's one of the reasons why I was not interested in Austen ever trying out for an Academy soccer team and guided him away from that type of club as it would have prevented him from playing any type of high school sport. They own you. Now maybe from an Academy team, (if you're lucky) you go on to play at a big time college and it pays off for you but for me I thought the price was too high. As much as I love soccer and I love watching Austen play, there is more to life than soccer and I tell him that often. There's balance - between school and sports and being a kid and having a social life. I want him to go to Friday night football games with his friends who are not soccer players (he hasn't missed one yet and most of his good friends do not play soccer - they are football players, golfers and cross country runners). I want him to go to Homecoming (he is). I want him to get involved in his school and enjoy these four years which will go by so fast (he knows). So far he's having a blast. He's excited about school. Thinks some of his classes are too easy (just wait, Austen, you will be wishing they were easy once you get a little deeper in). He loves going to any game and often calls me to tell me after getting off the bus from his away game or after a practice that he's going to watch the Varsity soccer match. He volunteers to be ball boy even when he's already done his shift (and overhears his coach who is attending the Varsity game say to an opposing coach on the bench that he wishes he had 10 other Austens). He's impressed that the assistant varsity coach knows his name when he enters the stadium for the Varsity match and approaches him. Austen asks how he knows his name and the coach says, coaches talk. Austen likes that and uses that as fuel to keep him going because it hasn't been an easy transition for him from club to high school soccer. Did he want to quit high school soccer? Yes. Did he wish he went out for the golf team instead? Sometimes (they play at really cool courses). But with our encouragement and the reality that he can't not touch the soccer ball for three months and come back strong for club season if he wanted to play another sport, he stuck with it. 

In June, he came into the summer high school soccer camp telling me that most of the players were not good. Tryouts rolled around in August and one of the other better freshman players decided to go play Academy soccer which really bummed Austen out as another one of his friends who would have played with him in high school also decided to play Academy instead of high school. Then there was him. Tryouts ended and they told the players congrats you made the freshmen team. That was a gut punch as Austen truly was vying for at least JV1 and honestly thought he could be top 5 on JV1. But they don't move freshmen up. So he would have to wait to have a chance at a higher level next year. It was disappointing but after some discussion he realized there were things he could work on during this high school season. He could develop his leadership. Many of the kids on his team were a much lower level or hadn't played at all. He could work hard, teach and encourage. Show his leadership even though he's a competitor. That's proven to be a very tough challenge when you're matched up with a strong Naperville team and the coach puts all the "B" players in with you and one other "A" player. Boy are you tested. Every goal that goes into the net is a character building goal. How do you lead? How do you rally your team? How do you teach? How do you keep going? I see what the coach is doing. He's told Austen that he doesn't care about the non-conference games. He's going to play everyone. And he wants him to lead. It's an internal struggle but he's doing it. He's learning and he'll be better for it at the end of the season. Meanwhile he's working on his physicality and using his body more in the game to shield the ball. I see improvement every game. And I know the lessons he's being taught right now are going to be the ones he's going to carry with him forever. 

After a victory!

New teammates and one old one