Lebkuchen: Fußballspiel

If you had told me 6 months ago that James would participate in a soccer game for ISF where his teammates would be excited for him to play in his first game and they and the coach would congratulate him at the end for a match well played, I would have told you you were crazy.

You may recall from blog entries from last fall, that James' first few months playing soccer at ISF was one of our toughest trials. An American kid who hasn't played organized soccer in a few years joining a team of European and Asian kids who have been playing avidly their entire lives, it was a recipe for disaster. And a disaster it almost was. The other boys were very hard on James and several times after a particularly difficult practice with his teammates, James questioned whether or not he should quit the team. It was one of the few situations in Germany that made me shed tears and had me asking if moving to Germany was the right decision for our family. We normally would have lectured James on his committment to the team, that winners never quit, etc. In this case, after a few months of such treatment, we felt that if James wanted to quit, it was entirely justified. But he persevered and took it week by week.

At the first game he was selected to play in, the coach realized that the school put James on the wrong team. He needed to be moved up to the next level. "Great," David and I thought. "It's only going to get worse."

It was with great trepidation that James went to his first practice with the new team. What a great surprise to hear how welcoming, supportive and forgiving his new teammates turned out to be. After a few months of practicing with his new team, James' name was put on the roster for today's match with the notation "For good achievement in practice!!!"