There are no Winners in this League

Thursday night at my son's soccer practice, the kids were goofing off and the adults were trying to regain control. My beautiful wife suggested that they turn practice into a contest, that way the kids will want to win and they'll stop goofing around and start focusing on soccer. Another mom said, "Oh no, they don't encourage competition in this league," or words to that effect. My sarcastic self said something like, "Yeah, it's better for the kids to never win than to win sometimes." Everyone was quiet for a minute after that and then the grown ups went back to playing nice.

But really, the whole concept of not teaching winning and losing and competing at this age is just a bit ludicrous. These kids are 6 years old, they know if they are winning or losing. They want to win. Having the "adults" pretend that winning isn't important doesn't change the fact that these kids want to win and they get pissed when they lose. It's a natural part of life. Competing and determining Alpha.

So today the Jedi Masters played against their arch rivals, the "other" team from their school. These kids were fired up. They were focused, they were playing hard, and you better believe it, they wanted to WIN. The bad guys jumped out to an early 1-0 lead and even the parents realized that this game was for elementary school bragging rights. Never fear, the mighty Jedi Masters went on to score 6 consecutive goals to easily defeat those losers from the other team.

But don't think the losers took their medicine quietly. There was kicking, elbowing, and smack talk going on out there. Our coach had to pull our team aside at the end of the third quarter and tell them that they were not to retaliate or talk back to those losers in any way out there. Did I mention that these kids are 6 years old? Just wait until they're 10 and they're allowed to win and lose.

So the Jedi Masters move to 3-0 on the season. But you won't find their record published anywhere. You see, there are no winners in this league.