Saturday morning I hung around for Kenna's indoor training. During a shooting drill, Ray was showing the girls a move and took a shot at the goal. Kenna blocked his shot and then shook her hands and winced. "Ouch!" she said. Ray laughed and said "You better not miss a Sunday game again." Kenna looked and me and I just winked at her, but I knew then that we needed to have a little talk with Ray. I approached him and we agreed to talk later in the day.
Our conversation was needed. I wanted him to know that McKenna's choice to play on Sunday wasn't going to change anytime soon and if he expects her to be at the Sunday games and just sit there and support the team, that that wasn't going to happen either because to her, just being at the Sunday games is not any better than playing in the Sunday games...and if she's going to keep the Sabbath Day holy, she's going to be at church and not at a soccer field. When I said this, his response was not what I was expecting. He told me how proud he was of McKenna for making that choice as tough as it can be with players and parents and coaches wanting her decision to be different. He said he's had players in the past that say they won't play the game on Sunday, but still come to watch and he feels that's hypocritical...so he wanted me to know how impressed he was with Kenna. He told me over and over again how hard it is to have players that won't play on Sunday and how it is limiting their chances of receiving college scholarships, I agree it's hard for him and the team as a whole, but really I wonder how many club girls get scholarships anyway. I would love to know that number and the colleges, too. Hopefully Kenna will get a scholarship based on grades and playing college soccer will just be a huge bonus!
