Clark started soccer -- but apparently it wasn't "Real soccer"

This past week, all of the activities have been starting up...

Kate started Tumbling. She did really well.
Alyssa started Dancing. You would have thought that she never took a few years off.
Grant starts back to Cub Scouts on Thursday. Baseball starts in a few weeks.
Clark started soccer...

...but apparently, it is not "real soccer". There is no goalie, so it can not be real (in his mind).
Which, honestly, I didn't even know to watch for the possibility there wouldn't be a goalie. I've heard 2 thoughts on the idea since then:
1. The kids like scoring more goals.
2. It teaches them to assist the goalie.

I'm going with thought #2.

But, Clark was appalled that he is on this team with no goalie. There are 6 kids per team, 3 play at each time. So, at the first practice on Saturday, his team scrimmaged. The other 3 guys scored and Clark's face just looked like, "What happened. I think I'm a little mad." Clark was really playing well, dribbling the ball, and doing just what he should. Despite that, the other 3 guys scored again and we knew Clark was upset. So, when the ball went into play the next time, Clark ran over to stand where the goalie should be. It was like he was saying, "If no one else is going to be goalie, I'll take care of it." So, the ball came up, he knew he was the goalie, and he grabbed it with his hands because the goalie is allowed to touch the ball with his hands. You can imagine how crushed he was when the coach blew the whistle on him for touching the ball. Afterall, there really is no goalie in this league.

So, this week, it was Tuesday, his regular night for practice and I asked him to get ready for soccer as soon as we finished eating dinner. He told me that he needed to go to "Real soccer"... the kind with a goalie. I explained how this would teach him and really prepare him... all this stuff that I don't know if I believe or not, but I paid my $110, so I believe it now! Hah! Finally, I said, "Clark, I'm going to have to call Ms. Liz to have her help me parent you through this one." (We'd been talking about it the day before.) Clark said, "Can I call her?" I said, "Sure." He said, "Ok, what's her number?" I rattle it off and he calls her...

"Ms. Liz, This is Clark. I have 1 question for you..." that's about all she understood. So, I quickly filled her in. They talked as I took care of cleaning up from dinner and helping Kate get ready for tumbling. When they were done, Clark handed me the phone, Liz asked if he understood it was "real soccer." I told her I'd find out and call her back. I asked Clark what Ms. Liz told him. He said very honestly, "She said it is not real soccer because real soccer has a goalie." Hah! I called her back and told her what he got from their conversation. She rolled her eyes through the phone and told me something like, "that's not what I said, but I tried." I appreciate friends like that.

So, I took Kate to gymnastics. Jason took Clark to soccer (along with Grant & Alyssa who wanted to watch). Clark was fine playing and kicking the ball. I think it helped that this soccer practice was actually on a soccer field, not just a make-up practice in some grass. (It had rained the Tuesday before, so we had the first practice in a field on a Saturday.) Jason told me that Clark ran around like he was trying to stop the ball from going anywhere, but he never actually did anything with it, just held his hands out and ran around the other people. I imagine it kinda like a foosball player that is spinning around, but not helping the game at all. Jason said Clark never tried to touch the ball with his hands but kept looking over to Jason for approval. Jason would give a thumbs up, Clark would give a thumbs up, and he'd go back to being a spinning foosball player again.

Jason almost popped a blood vessel, though, because Alyssa apparently had to go pee the whole time. She told me later that she had to go pee on the way there. Jason looked around in the middle of soccer practice and said, we are in the middle of an open field, there are no bathrooms. He said she screamed for an hour. (practice is only 45 minutes and I'm sure she did not start throwing a fit until after 20 minutes or so.) He finally text messaged me to see if I could come get Alyssa. I told him that we were just leaving tumbling and would not get to him before soccer practice was over. I told him to let her go in the grass. He said everyone will see. I said so what. He said there's nothing to wipe with. I said, she doesn't wipe half the time and I know it because she doesn't always flush either. He came home in a not-very-good-mood.

So, I got the kids to bed. He went to bed. It was all good. And, he got up early for the 3rd time in a row to go work out this week. I've been really proud of him. He's actually been very pleasant since taking his vacation. (Ok, except for this night... but he is a guy... we still love him.)