George Washington

I volunteer as a coach for an under 10 boys soccer travel team called The Fury. I know, I know it sounds like a rock band to some degree, but these boys really do rock. I applied for the position after the regular season had ended and was chosen for the spot. We have 10 kids on our team that range from 8-10 years old, and all of them are full of life !! I mean practice is more like herding cattle most of the time in the sense that I am constantly trying to keep them all moving in one direction together without losing a stray one. I love the energy that the kids bring to the field when they are with me at practice, but I do sometimes wonder if what I am saying makes a difference to them. For instance, I try to start off practice with a quick quote to get them to think about something, but most of the time I just get blank stares back from them. If it's not blank stares then it is usually group punching, prodding, and tackling as I am speaking to them. What are you going to do though, because they are only 8 and 9 , and they are boys. I just roll with it and move on during the practices, but it does leave me wondering if what I am doing sometimes gets through to them.
Well, this past week one of the boys had a birthday on one of our practice days so I decided to give him a soccer ball that I had bought at the end of practice. I presented it to him in front of the whole team and had everyone sing happy birthday to him. I didn't think much of it the entire week until I was browsing through our mail one night only to find a card addressed to 'coach'. I opened it up and it went a little something like this:
'Pride fills my heart when I walk on the field to play soccer for you. I love the way you encourage us and you give us pins. When I look at you I feel confident like George Washington's men felt when they looked at him. I've made many friends on the team. The soccer ball is awesome. Thank you. '
That card meant more to me than anything I had received in all of my years of coaching. If nothing else, I had made one young man believe that whatever he set out to do on the soccer field he could accomplish. You don't get those type of letters or cards very often, but God sure does work in mysterious ways sometimes. I had spent quite a bit of time lately wondering how good a job I was doing with those boys, and here He comes right along as if to say , "You are agreat coach just the way you are !"
It doesn't matter how old you are, you never get tired hearing words of encouragement. My hope is that I can somehow make a difference everyday in their lives, and really help them all to realize that all things are possible if only you believe.