Taking one for the team

Today at Monkey's soccer game he got the opportunity to play goalie. This is not a position that he's ever played before and being the competitive, perfectionist that he is, I was a bit nervous about his abilities to maintain his composure if the ball was able to get past him. A few balls got past him and he seemed to be just fine, getting right back into the game and paying attention which is difficult for most 7 year olds, Monkey being no exception.

The Ian from the other team (we really thought we were picking an unpopular name) who proved to be a good soccer player did what I've seen our Ian do only once, he drilled the ball towards the net with all his might. Our Ian being focused as the goalie attempted to block the ball, unfortunately his face stopped the ball before his hands did. I got that feeling that every mother whose watched their child get hurt gets...that awful sinking in the pit of my stomach as I heard the ball hit his face and watched his head recoil from the impact. Both coaches and I ran over to him. I must say I was proud that the rules of the league were running through my mind at the time and telling me to let the coaches handle it. With every fiber of my being, I stood nearby but did not go to him. I gave him the thumbs up with a big pretend smile on my face when he was able to pull his buried head from the coaches abdomen. Meanwhile, I was choking back the tears thinking that if he saw me crying he'd completely lose it. He wiped his tears after a minute or two and continued to play for the rest of the game. Luckily his tenure has goalie lasted only until the end of that quarter...phew.

I did notice that during the rest of the game, his hands seemed to involuntarily fly up to his face any time he got anywhere near the ball, even if he was kicking it. After watching that and looking at him playing on the field afterwards, I said to Dan and I swear this to be true, "He looks older".