The wonderful sounds of childhood

After our game this past Saturday, I jogged out on the field to

congratulate our team of 8- and 9-year-old boys for a game well

played. It was another beautiful day, with blue skies and the

temperature around 80 degrees.

We had to get off the field quickly so that the next game could

get under way on time and end on time. I noticed the three dads who

were volunteering their time and Saturday to wear yellow-striped

shirts to referee games when college football was home on their TV

sets. And yet, they were all smiling.

The next set of coaches and their assistant coaches were taking

the field with their team of 12 boys in the same age bracket. The

team parents were setting up on the sidelines with the drinks for the

end of each quarter and snacks for after the game. We had brothers

and sisters coming and going with their friends, parents and

grandparents as chairs and blankets were being folded up only to make

room for the next set of chairs and blankets. With 24 kids getting

ready, there had to be 60 people mulling around on the sidelines to

enjoy the next game. My team was busy running under the parent tunnel

of outstretched arms and supportive cheers.

This goes on a small amount of fields here in Newport Beach and

Costa Mesa every Saturday from September through November. The kids

learn a great deal and have a tremendous amount of fun playing. It

sure beats video games and the TV.

The girls in the same age group are over on another field. One of

the fun things about the girls is watching them arrive. They run out

to the field (the boys walk). They find their friends and together

with their hair in ponytails and ribbons, they face each other, grab

hands and jump up and down as one. They can’t be happier.

As I am congratulating the boys on the team for their play, I

found one of players smiling and walking slowly off the field. I

would imagine that the future does not hold competitive team sports

for this kid. Nonetheless, he can’t be a better kid to have on a

team. He is happy, bright, tries hard and has a contagious smile. I

told him that he had a great game; he got a lot of chances to kick

the ball and did well. We hope in the weeks to come that he kicks the

ball at least one time in the right direction. There is always hope.

After 45 minutes of soccer, a lot of running and sweating in a

closely contested game with some outstanding individual effort, he

looks at me and said, “Coach?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever noticed when you stand still for 10 seconds, the

wind feels like it will knock you over?”

AYSO has roughly 1,600 kids from age 4 to 18 playing in our little

region this fall and every fall. We have more than 160 teams. Each

team requires one head coach, one assistant coach and one team

parent. We get at least one parent to volunteer to be a referee. And

for many of these people, they didn’t play soccer in their childhood.

In total, that is more than 600 parents actively involved in their

kids’ lives two nights per week plus every Saturday.

All of us are volunteers and carve time out of our day. And

everyone would tell you that the enjoyment from being on fields with

young kids is unmatched and worth every precious moment.

I hope we make noise. I hope every kid within blocks in every

direction can hear the fun and laughter on the soccer fields in our

area. We are out there from 8 a.m. and wind-up the last game on the

last fields around 3:30 p.m. I know of no better noise.

I also don’t know and have never heard of any rocks being thrown.

I find it odd since almost every kid is brought and driven home by

their parents. All 600 of us actively involved parents would love for

anyone not involved to come out and see what we have going. If there

are some rocks being thrown, any of the 600 as well as the parents

would like to know about it. With 1,600 kids, will a kid do something

that we wish they hadn’t? Of course. But it can be controlled

After soccer is baseball, and that is equally as good. Baseball is

kids playing in the spring on many of the same locations with the

same enthusiasm and fun. However, baseball does have one wonderful

sound (noise) that soccer does not. The distinctive sound of a

well-hit ball coming off a bat. That sound can be heard from blocks

away. That is truly one of the great sounds of youth.

* EDITOR’S NOTE: Barry Zimmermann is a resident of Costa Mesa.