It’s time your kind gets some recognition. By “your kind,” I’m simply meaning the crazy-overprotective-chauffeur-snack prepping-personal cheerleader-laundromat service you have provided us players since before we could tie our own cleats. Unlike other moms, you have your own category of badass-ness.
Though you may not have known at the time, signing us up for that cute, non-aggressive CYO team where everyone gets a trophy when we were in kindergarten would just be the beginning of your soccer mom career. You did not know that the CYO team would eventually become a club team. You did not know that throughout the club/travel soccer years, you would take on the roles of personal chef, teacher, doctor, maid, and peacekeeper. You did not know that people would have to say a lot about everyone else’s kid, so you got “Keeper’s Mom” sewn onto your jacket so people wouldn’t dare to talk shit on your kid. You did not know that you would become a college soccer mom, who would travel hundreds and thousands of miles to see your kid play during a snowstorm or hurricane. You did not know that you would have to be the one to break it to us that not everyone gets to play at North Carolina or Stanford. You knew just how risky sports, especially soccer could be, but you did not sign up for the many emergency room trips and surgery’s your kid would be challenged with. You did not know that you were going to pay nearly a college tuitions worth of teams, hotels and gear. You did not know that you would have to watch your kid at the highest of highs and lowest of lows.
What you did know was that you were going to watch your daughter grow from a pee-wee player with pig-tails to a young adult who’s starting to figure out her life. Without soccer moms, the sport would not be the same. Soccer Moms are the driving force of youth sports. As women evolve in sports, especially with soccer, the Soccer Mom persona has an even bigger impact on young players. Watching the USWNT winning the World Cup for the first time since 1999 wouldn’t mean much if it wasn’t for the moms who put us in the sport many years ago. Soccer Moms deserve the world and much more. Though we may not realize their significance until we’re older. Soccer Moms are the backbone of youth soccer.
Thank you more than words,
Your superstar
