Did You Have Fun? Soccer Haibun and Haiku

Soccer. Fussball. Futbol. The beautiful game. I started playing it my sophomore year in Nicolet High School, as a club sport, in gym and intramurals. I was on the BYU “C” team (you know: A, B, C) … or maybe the “Z” team … my freshman year, the same year a team I player/coached were crowned intramural champs.

In 1981 I started assisting coaching soccer in the Fond du Lac soccer league. With a few breaks, I continued assistant coaching nearly every year, especially in the Lake Washington Youth Soccer Association. I also became a referee, as did my two oldest kids. I also played in the Eastside adult “Co-Wreck” league.

da Blues LWYSA girls youth soccer team, Kirkland, WA Sept 1999, Coach KuhnsEventually, I became a head coach of several recreational teams, especially of da Blues girls team and the Tarantulas boys team. Sometime around 2005 or so, I stopped coaching, as my youngest grew into Select and Premier soccer, but I always went to their games, including their high school games.

In about 2010 a group of guys I’d coached since they were little came up to me and asked me to coach them one last time, the fall season of their senior year, in recreational soccer. They said, basically, “soccer has gotten too intense. We’re not going to play in college. We just want to have fun again.”

It was rewarding they’d learned at least one lesson from me. After every game, win, lose or draw, I would always ask the kids I coached the same question:
“Did you have FUN?” They would (almost always) smile and say “Yes.” Then I’d tell them how proud I was of them, we’d do some goofy cheer, and we’d go get snacks.

The Next Generation of Soccer Parents

I haven’t coached for a few years, although I still go watch on occassion (#CFC #ChattanoogaFC #EBFG #SeattleSounders #BYUCougars)  and I own one share of the #ChattanoogaFootballClub (#CFCowner). Now I see the next generation of soccer parents (and, really, all sports parents) coming along. These are kids of the same generation that I coached. Just like I was, they are all so earnest and excited. They all want their kids to do well. So, even though they are not asking me, I want to share a major lesson I learned from all those years coaching soccer:

“Did your child have fun?”

Here’s the haiku to go along with it.

One truth all soccer/
parents must grasp: Playing is/
never disaster.

Mutual Respect: Real Salt Lake vs. Seattle Sounder Improv Prose

The field lights at the nearly empty Rio Tinto Stadium went out, darkening the entire field except for the glare of TV lights at the center circle.
RSL goalie Nick Rimando was giving one last interview as he walked slowly back to the locker room. His heroics in the first game, including several world-class saves AND playing with a broken nose, and several fantastic saves in game 2 of the loser-out MLS playoff game, hadn’t quite been enough. His MLS season was over.Seattle Sounders ECS fans cheer after the end of the Western Conference semi-finals at Rio Tinto Stadium in Utah, showing their respect for RSL goalie Nick Rimando.
Slowly, a low rumble pierced the dark. Coming from the northeast upper deck of the RioT Stadium –the visiting fan section– it gathered strength and purpose.
“Nick Rimando [Clap, Clap, ClapClapClap!]”
“Nick Rimando [Clap, Clap, ClapClapClap!]”
It continued, getting louder and louder, until the interview was finished: Seattle Sounders’ fans acknowledging a fantastic performance by the USA National Team goalie.
“Nick Rimando [Clap, Clap, ClapClapClap!]”
Rimando turned, walked slowly back across the field, looked up at the cheering fans, raised both his hands above his head, and applauded their cheer.
Respect.

A Soccer Seat Sonnet For RSL and Section XXVI: Revolutionary IMprov Sonnet


When Dave’s seat choice is done/
it’s understood:/
There’s always fun!/
And fun is good!/

In the right section/
we can yell and scream!/
Insult goalie’s imperfection!/
and holler: “Go Team!”/

Your ticketed section/
shouldn’t impact your seat picks:/
Make a defection/
to Section Twenty-Six!/

That’s what I did!/
‘Cuz that’s where the fun is!