Ow. My brain.

Elizabeth's first soccer practice was Saturday. Sort of. We showed up at nine as directed. It was sprinkling just a teensy bit. Long story short, only three kids on her team showed up and the coach cancelled practice.
If this league didn't have such a fabulous reputation, I'd consider pulling Elizabeth out and asking for a refund. Not just because of the cancelled practice. There was just a LOT of flailing around on the part of the coaches, and none of them seemed to have a clue as to what was going on. Her coach, a young girl named Kara, called me last Thursday night. That was the first I'd heard from anyone on the league, and registration deadline was back in April. The coach told me that she'd only gotten the team roster five minutes before she called me. When we arrived, she seemed very uncertain of her job and unsure of herself. She was supposed to have two assistant coaches, who didn't show. The league director was also supposed to be there to give the kids their uniforms, and he didn't show either. The coach was able to tell us that their team name was Flash, and the color was lime green. So Elizabeth did an informal practice with another girl on her team for about a half hour (While the coach sat around chatting with another parent!), then we went home. She was so disappointed.

Icing on the cake? I got a call a few hours ago from a man saying he was Elizabeth's coach for the league team "Typhoons", and that their first practice would be this Tuesday. Um, what? I explained to him about Kara, and he was a little taken aback. He then went on to say that his current roster was the third one he'd been given, so maybe there was some confusion. Oy! He said he'd get everything figured out and give me a call tomorrow. At this point, I was getting annoyed with the whole league. I mean, we paid a late fee because we missed the April deadline. Here it is mid-June, and they still don't have their act together.

I wound up quizzing him on the team roster. Found that Elizabeth's best friend was on that team, so I told him that I wanted her to stay on a team with Katie. (This was partially selfish on my part. I knew Elizabeth and Katie would be thrilled to be on a team together, but I now have a built in soccer-mom-buddy in Katie's mom Susan, my closest friend.)

I'm thinking about emailing the league director and letting him know that I'm not happy with the situation so far, but I probably won't. I don't know what it will accomplish aside from labeling me as the annoying soccer mom. Feh. I just wish they'd figure out which end was up, because Elizabeth's surplus energy is making her crazy, and she's getting irritatable because she wants to play some soccer already.

Ow. My brain.