Coach's daughter

Here's a pic of me and the kids on Evey's first day of school. I like using my expanding gut as a shelf for Boydee to sit on. Convenient.

***

I'm coaching Evey's soccer team for the first time. She played in the Happy Feet League in Lawrence the last two years, and that league came with its own coaches.

We have 10 kids on our team, from ages 3 to 5. Evey is one of the older kids on the team, and the second-tallest.

Evey is very proud that her dad is the coach. She thinks it gets her all sorts of cool points. She also thinks I'll play favorites for her, and I told her I wouldn't -- and that made her a little mad. But I've explained it to her a few times that that wouldn't be fair.

At our first practice, I sat all the kids down with all their parents and introduced myself.

"My name is Seth. You can call me Seth, or Coach Seth, or just Coach," I told everyone.

And Evey announced, "And you can call me the Coach's daughter!"

***

We got smoked in our first game. Well, we started off poorly, and then things settled down a bit. I get to run on the field with the kids. A lot of my time is spent encouraging kids to get involved. I have a few kids who would rather chase bugs then chase the ball.

After the game, one of the parents asked me, "How's your voice?"

I told him the voice was fine... but my soul was wounded.