Part Four

Soccer, Fall 2001 – Shelby County Youth Soccer Recreational League. (SCYS)

Kirsten’s first year of soccer, it could have been worse I guess. The coach had obviously played before and had a son named Lex on the team. It was a little team, all 4/5 year old boys and girls playing 8v8. The coach’s son liked to wear his “Superman” cape during the games, so the entertainment value was high.
What I can say about Kirsten, she did not sit down and pick flowers, she did pay attention to what was going on and very early she decided she was not going to play magnet ball with everyone else – she began to hover around the pack and wait for the ball to squirt out. She scored two goals that year and unfortunately, I missed her very first goal. I was at the concession stand with my dad buying drinks. I did not see the ball go in, but
when I heard all of the yelling, I saw Kirsten standing at the net with the ball in it – Lex was in the back ground trying to save Metropolis –arms stretched out wide “flying” faster than he ever ran after a soccer ball unless it was out of bounds or in the net – he had to be the one to get the ball.
All in all, the coach did a good job with Kirsten; she enjoyed the season and was looking forward to the next fall season.

Part Three

A moving truck shows up next door one day and there are tons of people next door moving in. It does take a couple of days for us to figure out exactly who had moved in. Over night, the house next door now contained four girls, two much older than Kirsten and two, still older, but very close to Kirsten, about six and eight I think.
Over the next few months, Kirsten and the two younger girls next door become best of friends. Kirsten went from being four years old to acting like she was eight years old in the span of a few months.
Traci, the youngest of the clan next door became Kirsten’s idol, what ever Traci did is what little Kirsten wanted to do. Well, Traci was a soccer player and that is now what Kirsten wanted to do.
The fall soccer season approaches and Kim signs Kirsten up for Req soccer, it was 2001.
2001 was a big year for us, I finally got a handle on the career and was able to tone down the working hours to a respectable 50/60 work week and even get most weekends off.
More importantly, Kim and I had our second child Madison in June of that year and I had fallen in love all over again. At birth, she looked like a carbon copy of Kirsten – to this day, the only way I can tell them apart in their baby pictures is the position of their hands.
The differences became very apparent very early, Maddie as we call her, was a much easier baby to deal with, and she slept the whole night through the first night we brought her home. (It took Kirsten 6 months to accomplish this feat, much to the angst of her parents.)
Everyone that was involved in our life will tell you, Maddie was born smiling; she was the happiest baby I had ever seen. Even though there were issues with her eyes, she continued to smile right through them.
It is funny, for the second child, all I had wished for was a girl – something about a father/daughter relationship, it is, well I don’t exactly know what it is, but I love it.
The family was now complete a wife, two children and a dog – yep, the dog is female as well. I am so out numbered, a house full of females, but I would not change a thing.


Kim’s time became dominated with the baby and to be honest, I was looking at a 5 year old girl who probably didn’t know her daddy all that much. The career had cost me more than I knew I was paying. I vowed to make it up to her and I would like to think to some degree, I have. I do know I will never again sacrifice my time with my three girls.
Everywhere I went, I took Kirsten with me, even runs to the grocery store or to the local hardware store, she was with me.
In mid August of 2001, we get the call from the Req soccer coach that the season was upon us and practice would start next week.
I knew going in, that soccer had many levels, my Mom’s husband Ron had two kids that traveled all over playing soccer – to be honest, and I thought it was dumb. They played soccer every weekend, Mom running one place with one of them and Ron running somewhere else.

Part Two

Truth be told, I was not a very good father early on. I always had been very career driven and the pressure of having a wife and child to support kicked the career drive to newer loftier heights – I was working a bunch, 70/80 hours a week and 7 days a week.

Kids sports was not on my radar at all, after all, what little I was home, I was surrounded by “girly” things. What sports can a girl play? I knew that there was softball for girls and figured that there had to be a league for it at the younger ages. Basketball and Volleyball, sure in high school, but that was way down the road.
I do remember thinking, she could be a cheerleader and we can go to the Friday night high school football game to watch her cheer.
Girls Football, not gonna happen, girls Hockey, not my little princess – both of those sports were “manly, men” sports and no girl ever could or should play them.

Kirsten turns 4 years old and as I recall, Kim informed me that she had sighed her up for T-Ball. It turned out, I knew the coach and thought sure, and this could be a good thing. I doubt I ever took Kirsten to a practice, but I know I did not miss a game. It was fun; the kids were so little and were all so bad it was fun. Kirsten was fairly terrible, but sure enough it was dad’s fault.
Kirsten is a “lefty” so I had taken her out and got her a glove for her right hand and figured that would be good enough. It turns out, she did much better at baseball playing right handed, batted better and threw much better – so a new glove was in order. It was a fun season, the parents were all in control of themselves and no one there thought the next “Mickey Mantel” was playing.
Disaster struck, with about two games left in the season. Kim is giving Kirsten a bath and finds head lice on her. God love my wife, we run out and get the treatment and the comb, get the detergent for the bed cloths and get to work. Kim reads the labels of the toxic chemicals and decides she ain’t putting that on her baby and sets up till wee hours in the morning picking through Kirsten’s head – she got them all.
The lice came from the shared batting helmet – the team was infected and Kim decides enough of the baseball – thus ended Kirsten’s Baseball career.

In the Beginning...

You know, it is funny, who would have ever thought that they would face the perils of organized youth sports as a parent as they were growing up?
Who out there ever had dreams about such details as they were growing up or maybe even in the first couple of years after becoming a parent?

A little back ground on me, Rob, the “meat head, motor-mouth” toe head kid from the Kettering/Miamisburg/West Carrollton area of Ohio.
As early as I can remember, Hockey was my first love, from the second I put the skates on the very first time in Centerville Ohio around 1971/1972. My dad had taken me ice skating one day, lord only knows why. An older fellow was there giving a little Hockey clinic – next thing I knew, I was out there with the other kids polishing the ice with our back sides. (What a sight that must have been.)
The following year, Football became a part of my life as well, but I never loved it the way I loved Hockey. Sure I could hit people and that was cool, but it was always just something to do until the next Hockey season.
Truth be told, I was middle of the back at best, middle of the pack Hockey player and middle of the pack Football player.
I just remember it being fun and I always had a great deal of support from Mom and Dad – they were both awesome.
I finished up the Hockey career and Football careers the same year; I had to have an emergency Kidney surgery. Truth be told, girls, cars and beer had became the priority at that point, I have to believe I was nearly done with sports at that time – there was way too much to do for a 16 year old wanting to raise a little hell.

I need to fast forward a bit, got married in 1991 to the best thing that has ever happened to me. Seventeen years later, I still know she is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I love her more today than yesterday… she was mean to me yesterday! Just kidding, Kim is my universe!

Fast forward again too late December 1994 or early January 1995, Kim let’s me know right after dinner we are going to be parents! I can honestly say I was very excited for the first hour or so, but then the realization of actually what that meant scared the absolute hell out of me. Why did it scare me, well to be honest, I didn’t know exactly what it meant to be a parent and that is what scared the hell out of me – the “meat head” kid who was always in trouble now has to pay for his razin’ is what I thought.

I know this will sound weird and all, but I have always known that I would have two girls, always. During the pregnancy, I would tell Kim I wanted a boy, I had told her that several times before she got pregnant – “I want a boy.” (I was trying to convince God to change his mind, but I knew it was going to be a girl.) I always knew we were going to have two kids – I was an only child and I swore that I would not do that to a child.

Sure enough, our little Kirsten was born October, 1995. I can honestly say, the day she was born, the gender was not important at all – she was healthy and the most beautiful thing I had ever seen – “She had me at hello”, just like her momma!

I think that this is a good place to stop for now, I will write again soon!