In the endless debates about competition in youth sports, you’ll often hear that the kids don’t care about trophies, only the parents and coaches do. While there may be some truth to that with people who lose sight of why we all do what we do in youth soccer, most coaches I’ve met care about the development of their team and if they win some hardware – great! But it’s not all about the hardware.

Well the other day I found out it really IS all about the hardware. Simply for scenes like this…

I’m watching TV and typing away on my laptop when I hear cheers come from the kid’s bedroom. Curious, I look in and all four were in there with soccer balls all over the floor. They had devised some crazy game involving at least 3 balls being rolled around as they competed in the ‘World Cup’. When I asked why it was the ‘World Cup’, I got looks that screamed ‘How dense can you be Daddy?’ and #3 shouts "Becauuuuuuse Daddy, you win the cup!" and he points to the big silver cup Eldest’s Rec team won as finalists for the NCYSA Recreation State Cup.

Priceless.

So that’s why it’s all about the hardware for me – to have more props for the kids to create games around!

Yes, I’m kidding. Mostly. Smiley