Kids

The U.S. men's national team defeated Mexico in a highly contested match on Sunday to win the CONCACAF Nations League, marking the country’s first competitive victory over its rivals since September 10th, 2013.

The fruitless streak continued so long that I personally graduated middle school, high school and was just one year away from graduating college before the U.S. was victorious again. Christian Pulisic, the American captain who scored the go-ahead goal, was just 14 years old when the U.S. last claimed victory. 

As the world heals from the pandemic, pick-up matches are on their way back as well. Pick-up matches exemplify all the best parts of soccer: intense rivalries, healthy competition and the opportunity to sharpen your skills.

It was a foggy Saturday morning soccer match and I was defending the goal spectating the action going on the field. I had stopped a few shots earlier in the match and my confidence was quickly rising. Thoughts raced through my head, realizing that I was about to officially record my first clean sheet of the season. Then as clear as day the ball was passed to me, and as I went to stop it with my foot it slowly but surely skipped right below my outstretched foot and into the awaiting net behind me.

The majority of youth soccer parents support their children to the ends of the Earth. Seeing your child score their first goal or make a great save is an indescribable feeling. That being said, there are still moments when you really wish you could be anywhere else than a U-11 boys soccer game.

Unless waking up at the crack of dawn to drive two hours and sit in a field full of goose shit is your kink, being a youth soccer parent can be a pain sometimes.

Here are five thoughts that youth soccer parents have had that they definitely won’t tell their children about.