Kohl's Cup Soccer Tournament ~ October 12th, 2013

The Purple Dragons ~ 2013
Back Row: Coach Dad, Allie (speed demon), Ella (the slide tackler) Kennedy (the pusher) Katelynn (the power house) and Coach Dain
Front Row: Lauren (the go-getter) Lizzy (tough as nails) Olivia (tries really hard) and Ava (we borrowed her for the tourney..she did great!)

We had a nice sunny but very windy Saturday for the Kohls Cup at Racoon River Park. We played 3 games 10:00- West Des Moines, 12:00- Council Bluffs, and 2:00 Norwalk.
I have to tell this story because I am still just amazed at the behavior of parents for such young players.. not that it is ever okay but 7-8 year olds??? Really????
So, we played West Des Moines and they were really good but our girls hung in there and did a fantastic job, the parents were great and it was a fun game to watch.  The Council Bluff team was a team of 6-7 year olds, so they pretty much got smoked by our team. Here is the shocker, a parent from their team told their girls to punch our girls in the mouth.. no joke. Then they would yell at our girls for NOT letting them score or have a chance at the ball. They were screaming at the ref because they thought we were pushing.. he quickly chimed in and said that the girls were just dribbling. Well guess what? It's a tournament, and they signed their 6-7 year olds up to play 8 year olds.. they should have known they were going to get smoked. And when it's a tournament.. it's game on.. you win some you lose some...but we teach our girls to be good winners and good losers.  The final game was against Norwalk and I was shocked again when a really obnoxious mother yelled for her daughter or player to "push them back" numerous times. We have one player who does push a lot and Coaches have been working on it.. but we don't encourage it. Plus, most of the time she was yelling that, our girls were not even pushing, they were bumping shoulders and elbows.. it's allowed!
So I learned that I do have some self control and that no matter how much I wanted to get up in their faces and tell them what I thought of them.. I took the high road. I asked God what he would want me to do... and it was to NOT get up and say something. Those kinds of parents are not going to change and getting in their face or starting an argument (no matter how badly I wanted to) is stooping to their level. So... I ignored it and encouraged the girls.. (and then complained all day to friends and family about how obnoxious people are)  :)

The girls building forts between games.

WE SURVIVED!