Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Junior Soccer League 2005

The 2005 Junior soccer league season has just started. Sean always enjoys it and this is his 4th season. This year he has been assigned to team Belgium and two of his good pals Michael (aka M1) and Adam are also in the same team. All the coaches are volunteer parents and luckily for Sean and his team-mates, Belgium has a good guy who, though by his own admission, has limited knowledge and experience of soccer, is clearly well organised, a very decent guy and keen to coach the kids in the basics of the game and in working together as a team.
Sadly, the kid's sports rage incident (see posting 25 may 2005) has left its messy fingerprints on the rules for this league. To be fair, most of the rules are very sensible but there are some that grate a little :
"No keeping score, Discourage kids from keeping score, Coaches need to try to manage the score, Do not run up the score, Put your goal scorers in the back or in goal when necessary, Both teams are winners .."
I sympathise to some extent with the philosophy of avoiding humiliating defeats... but not to keep score seems to eliminate the whole point of playing a game of football. Sport is not just a physical outlet for the kids, it also teaches them about teamwork, about different roles within a team, about striving to achieve results as a team, about being gracious in victory and to learn to deal with defeat. At age 5 or 6 maybe we need to shelter them a little bit from some of the more painful aspects of sport but at age going on 9 ? I believe modifying the rules of the game is like lying to the kids about life. How long do we want them to think they are living in a fairy-tale world and when are they ready to learn about repsonsibilities, accountabilities; the consequences of good and bad preparation, good and bad play, good and bad behaviour, the interdependency of individuals in a collective effort; the relationship between the rewards and the effort they put in; the joy of winning, the disappointment of losing, the pride in performance and, even if on the losing side, knowing one did one's best ?
The result is Mickey Mouse football for over-protected kids that teaches them very little about the real game or about real life. When we were their age, the games at the local park were already passionate affairs between well bonded teams determined to fight for the common cause - and, despite the absence of an adult referee, only very rarely did we end up literally fighting for the cause ! Sometimes 'boys will be boys' and at times need supervision and guidance - but I don't believe we should be creating a make-believe world for them.
However, despite my reservations I will not interfere as Sean and his buddies enjoy the 'tournament' so much. Thank goodness for this 'blog medium' that enables me to get it off my chest here rather than get in an argument with people who clearly will not agree with me ! They are all good people anyway and doing what they think is best.
It's only for 2 months then the boys can get back to the academy run by professional football coaches and playing real, competitive football again.

Thursday, August 04, 2005

In the Summertime

Summer in England and a not so dry dry-season in Indonesia.
July 7th saw the London bomb attacks on the tube & bus, followed by failed bomb attacks on the 22nd. It brought a role reversal as we made phone calls to make sure family and friends were safe and sound after several times in recent years being on the receiving end of such calls after riots, bombs and the tsunami.
Meanwhile, flooding in central Jakarta brought gridlock to the capital's roads. This is quite a common occcurence in January & February, but in July it roughly equates to the frequency of a compliment about Tony Blair from Jeremy Clarkson.
Tiger Woods winning The Open at St Andrews was about the only thing that seem right in the world during the first 3 weeks of July !

Anita & Sean missed the dreary weather in Jakarta as they were in Taiwan visiting Anita's family and friends in Taipei, Taichung and Puli. Unfortunately Sean was diagnosed with Chicken Pox on the day of their arrival and that put quite a damper on their 'holiday' for the first 4-5 days. They still managed to have a very good time and Sean was thrilled to have had his first motorcycle ride on the back of his uncle's bike, go up the latest tallest building in the world (Taipei 101) and, last but not least, finally get to know his relatives in Taiwan - the last time he was there he was only 4 years old and therefore could not even remember them.

Last Wednesday. 26 July, we all went to Bali for 6 days and were joined by Jane, Ken and 2-year-old Fie as they were stopping over for 10 days on their way to Perth.

Jane seemed to have coped much better with the flights this time. Some hypnotherapy a few weeks before their departure did help, it would appear. Ken was certainly grateful that he was spared a nervous (and probably cranky) wife gnawing at him throughout the long countdown to departure day. Also, much to Jane & Ken's relief, Fie took the long journey in her stride.

We had a wonderful time just lazing by the pool and on the beach, watching the kids enjoy themselves, eating big breakfasts, catching up on eachother's news and reminiscing about the old days. Had a great final evening with them in the spectacular beachfront reastaurant & bar at Seminyak - 'Ku De Ta'.
Sean, obviously revved up by the ride on his uncle's motorbike a couple of weeks earlier, was raring to get on a jet-ski, so his Dad took him out for a couple of quick circuits of the bay - after Anita had driven a hard bargain with the water-sports operator to get a price well below the 'tourist' rate. Anita also came to the fore in driving the poor vendors down to rock bottom prices when Jane & Ken were buying things on the beach.
It was great to see wee Fie enjoying her first time in a swimming pool and on a beach. She had a marvelous time - it's a pity she is too young to be able to remember it in a few years time.

Back in Jakarta, Sean still has 3 more weeks school holiday and Anita has made sure he wont be stuck in front of the TV or the Playstation. He has tennis and golf lessons every weekday, his weekly piano and Mandarin lessons plus what we refer to as 'home homework' !

At least the Prime Minister had some good news from the IRA's declaration last week. I can recall the days of the bombings in London in the 70's and early 80's - especially the Knightsbridge tube station, Hyde Park and the nail bomb on King's Rd and it would be nice to believe that such atrocities will not be carried out again by the IRA - even though it must be highly likely that others are still intent on committing such acts of terrorism in the city. Potentially historic as last week's announcement may be, it probably seems like a spit in the ocean from where Tony Blair is sitting right now.

And talking of oceans, I really wish I was still sat by the Indian Ocean at Bali so that, at the very least, I could finish reading Clarkson's book that Ken had brought with him. Now I'm going to have to wait until our next visit to Singapore and buy the damned thing !