The soccer season ended last night for Gracie.
The first game was Tuesday and about 10 minutes in, a kid head-butted her (not on purpose) and she had to come off the field. Shaken, but still ready, she went back in only to be hit with a ball in the face from about 3 or 4 yards away.
She didn’t go back in. Last night we went and she was (understandably) too scared to go out there. Her beaming smile she had before the game as she warmed up with her teammates turned into a frown and fear-filled eyes when the game started.
So, for this year at least, she is retired.
As parents, we don’t know why she was the only one who got hit in the face with an airborne ball, but we can’t do anything about it.
We can’t ask her to do anything that terrified her when it isn’t a necessary part of life. There will be things she will have to overcome her fear for, but kicking a soccer ball with 18 other kids (most of them bigger than her) isn’t going to be one of them.
We’ll kick the ball in the yard. That’ll be more fun anyway.
