It seems like Loraine and I are becoming Marquette's soccer “Welcome Wagon”.
Let me explain—twice in the past month we have been playing at different Marquette pitches, and soon found ourselves kicking balls around with young people not from the area. A couple of weeks ago, we were at Kaufman, and noticed a young man and his mom just wandering around, looking at everything. We got to talking, and asked Haleel—who's eight and from Green Bay—if he wanted to play with us.
And boy, did he.
As it turns out, his dad was fishing on the Dead River, and Haleel and his mom were just wandering around, and watching us. When Loraine asked if he wanted to join us, he jumped right in, and played his heart out. His mom, as it turned out, played in college for St Norbert—even against NMU once or twice—and when they heard there were pitches right near the Dead they decided to check them out.
A half an hour later, Haleel was exhausted. But, according to his mom, had the time of his life.
Then Sunday we were at the Wright Street fields, when a couple of kids and their adults popped over with a ball and were kicking it around near us. Noticing that the older of the kids kept looking over at us, Loraine asked if he would like to join us, and that's how we met 7-year old Jack from Ontonagon and his aunt Ali, from Grayling--
Jack had just moved to Ontonagon with his parents, and had to pull out of the youth team with which he was playing. I'm guessing that's why he was with his aunt and another cousin at the pitch, and when Loraine saw he was looking at us and asked if he wanted to join us, you can tell he wanted to. Jack, I must add, has a wicked right foot, and knows where to place the ball.
I hope he gets to keep playing, because he really does have some talent in that foot!
It's funny; I think Loraine and I get as much of a kick out of having these young people join us as they get playing. Both of these events occurred just as we were winding down a hard workout, and having the chance to just “play” was quite fun. Plus, you could just tell by the way the kids were looking at us that they really wanted to join, and I'm pretty sure the adults they were with got a kick out of it, too.
And if they went home with the thought in their heads that Marquette's filled with friendly people and amazing opportunities that just pop up without any warning; well, glad we could do that, too.
After all, it's now apparently part of our job as official members of Marquette's soccer “Welcome Wagon”.
8-)
No comments:
Post a Comment