Soccer Party

The coaches threw a little end of season soccer party the other night.  The coaches get up and say something nice about each player and give them a little certificate. They are the nicest guys around but it's hard not to notice the differences in speeches and the order in which they are given. The focus on some kids, those generally to the end of the presentation, is skills, goals, and general playing ability. How bad ass they are or how they saved this game or that one.  But for other kids, typically towards the front of the presentation, the kind words are usually about behavior or personality or maybe effort.  Parker fell into this group with his smile being the main topic of their short pronouncement.  Not much talk about soccer but hugs and love was out in full force.  On the way home I said, "That was really nice what he said about you, huh?"  He responded, "yeah, I liked all the smile stuff, but he seemed to have left out the stuff about me being good at defending."   This kid might not be as clueless as I think...