Beginning to Feel Like Home

 If you had asked me a month ago if I would enjoy coaching soccer, I would have laughed at you. (As many people have laughed about the idea of me coaching soccer.) However, I am having an absolute blast coaching. Come to find out, I am pretty good at it. We haven’t played a game and I have no idea if we will win or lose. The majority of these boys are good. As the football coach told me, “Most of these boys are from Mexico. They have been playing their whole lives.”

In the beginning, these boys wanted to show me how good they were. It was all about impressing the coach. In the last two weeks, it has become so much more. I may not know much about coaching, but I do know what it takes to make a successful team – communication and teamwork. They listened and applied the knowledge from a novice coach to their game. I smiled on the sidelines as I heard the encouragement and instruction they were giving and accepting from one another. It was then I knew I would not be choosing the team captains. They would. Each game, the players will be voting on the players who have shown the most leadership and encouragement. The two players with the most votes are the captains. It is an honor to be chosen.

After practice, I thanked the two boys who had asked me to coach. If it had not been for them asking me before the adult did, I would not have said yes. When they asked me, they told me I didn’t have to do anything. They would do all the work. (Like I could ever stand back and just watch!) I asked for their feedback of how I was doing as their coach. Apparently, I am doing a good job. I know I am having a blast and didn’t know coaching a sport could be so much fun!

And then there are my students. I love the challenge they put before me every day. I think back to earlier in the week when I was concerned I had ruined my rapport with a student. I am happy to say, it is all good. He goes out of his way every day to come tell me he has his homework done. As for the rest of them, their faces lit up today when I told them we would be focusing on topics they were interested in to learn the skills necessary in our curriculum. By the end of the year, I will be very knowledgeable in fishing, hunting, soccer, football, princesses, and assorted other topics.

One of these boys is my neighbor. He is in Patti’s math class. Every night, the two of them do their homework together at the bar. (The KITCHEN bar, that is.) Tonight he mentioned that he had to head home to have supper, shave, and sleep. SHAVE?! Yes, I said shave. Not only that, but kids here can get their permit here at 14 ½. Many of my students are close to 15. They are driving and shaving! So very different from the students I have been teaching for the last three years.

I am getting used to being called ma’am. The accent is starting to sound normal. The house is starting to be lived in. It is beginning to feel like home.