Happy Gilmore?

We have 44 boys (U10) signed up to play recreational soccer this fall in our community, including our son. I am the only person who volunteered to help coach, and now the season is in danger of getting cancelled for these kids. This is how youth sports die. Not because we don’t love our kids. Not because we don’t care. But because somewhere along the way, we decided that someone else would step up. And when everyone waits for someone else…nobody does. These kids don’t need professional coaches. They don’t need perfect coaches. They just need a few adults willing to give them a couple hours a week. If 44 kids want to play, surely we can find a few adults willing to help them play. We spend thousands of dollars on our kids. We drive them to practices, buy the cleats, the uniforms, the equipment. But when they need us to actually give something back—our time—we suddenly can’t. That’s the part that should bother all of us.