Kenzie loves soccer. She is passionate about it. In May she found out that her current soccer coach was going to switch leagues, and that she would need to tryout. She was at a crossroads, as were we. We really liked her coach, and her team. She had learned and grown as a young lady from being on this team. Did she tryout for this league?, did she tryout for a different team on the league we were currently on? Should she tryout for the High School team? Trying out for this new league, could me a lot more money than what we had paid before. Her current coach had forgone his compensation, to make it cheaper for the girls. Did she try to go find a new team on the old league, maybe a team that other friends from school were on? I encouraged her to not try out for the High School team this year for many reasons, one of which was money, and time. I wanted her to be able to enjoy her 9th grade year, and not have to stress about all the after school practices, the number of games etc. She chose to follow the coach, and tryout for the new league. She tried out, and didn't make his new team...she was heartbroken. We felt so bad for her, and we weren't quite sure where to go from there. Then, she was approached by another coach from this new league. He asked if she was still interested in playing. YES! She was so excited. He would let us know more information later. We waited...and waited...he finally contacted her about practice. That was a trying experience in and of itself. She really didn't have an official team yet, we would go to the field for practices, and sometimes they were their, and other times not. But, even though we were not sure what was really going on for the summer, she learned more about playing soccer in those few months than she had in all her soccer playing. She learned foot work, and how to stay on top of the ball, she learned to hustle, and how to dribble the ball. With the other teams, she was learning plays.
Finally, after the summer was over, and the high school teams had been set, she had an official team, and he named her Captain, because she had been their all summer long. C and I finally felt at peace about this change after the parents meeting. The coaches shared with us that they are there to teach the girls skills to take them forward in their life, not just soccer skills, but skills to aid them in their life. How to set goals, how to reach them, how to not get discouraged, and to keep going. Yes, they want to win, they are competitors, but they want to help these girls grow and progress in their everyday life. I was sold! Except....we had no idea how much this was going to cost. We had not seen anything about the prices.
C and told Kenzie, that if she wanted to play, she had to earn the money. I gave her an amount that she had to reach, still not knowing how much it was going to cost, but based it on what we had paid before, and added to that for some buffer. She went to work. She and I contacted friends, family, and neighbors letting them know that she was interested in earning money, and that she would be willing to do any number of things. She prayed about it, we all prayed about it, and the phone started to ring, and the jobs began to come in. She babysat, she weeded, she took care of animals (horses, dogs and cats) and she cleaned. She worked hard, and she did not complain. Instead she was grateful! She knew that she was being blessed, and that the Lord had heard her prayers, and knew the desires of her heart.
When we finally got word of how much it was going to be, she had earned all that was necessary to cover the entire cost. She had paid her tithing, put some aside for herself for new clothes etc, and the majority went to soccer. SHE HAD DONE IT!!!!!
Such a testimony builder for her, a great blessing to us, as we are in Operation Get Dad Home, and such a special experience for a very special girl!!!! She is amazing! We love her!
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