It's starting to get colder in the land down under and I noticed little miss was a little not with it this week at soccer training. She's been asking when she can play "big girls soccer". For those that don't know our club has a great women's team which is often televised.
It's a state league so it's a big deal and they have been on fire lately fortunately for us tomorrow there is a home game so I rekon it's off to dinner at Georgies Bistro and then walk a few meters to the grand stand to watch the women's game.
I know little Miss will be ecstatic as we will often visit the club grounds of an evening and have a kick. Most nights both the women and men's teams are training and she'll jump on the field with the girls to have a kick and a cheeky training session from the professionals.
I find that it helps her boost her moral in the sport and gives her another perspective of the game. The power that is unleashed onto the ball by the professional players is huge.
She'll often sit there and you can see the cogs in her mind kicking over as she tries to figure out how to do the same. It often drives her more I guess like with anything in life it gives you a visual goal.
Being amongst the bigger kids (I say that as I am heading to Middle age) also gives her a bit more of focus rather than following her old man around whose often worn out and tired from work and life in general.
She'll often tell me she finds training boring, oh how I remember those days as a kid myself as all you wanted to be was the best but you don't become the best without training and learning the ropes.
We have "that talk" about needing to train and learn to play and that you can only win when you become good at something and that showing up is just half the battle.
I can see she struggles to get through training at times and sometimes I think she doesn't want to be there but she has really good coaches who sit with her and get her to jump back into the game.
They'll often reassure me that it is normal and that she is still very young and that all kids go through it and it will pass.
Thats why I think I'll be heading off to catch up with the lads and laddettes at the next home game to give her some inspiration as it has been a while since we have been to a match. I don't think she actually remembers the ambiance of the crowd, the cheering, the excitement and the rush of the sport.
Now that she is older and amongst it I think it will do her some greatness to inspire and motivate her to train harder and really set the focus of what the sport is about.
Annnnnd I get to enjoy a beer or two as well which is pretty exciting.