Bad soccer practice day..
It was a Tuesday morning, in the summer of June, Dianne had taken her daughter to Maine to see her sister and do things for the summer. Lots of great fun no doubt for them. I was watching Hobie who had soccer practice this am. The kids were off on summer vacation. I sort of sensed that this was going to be a rough day for Hobie and me.
So we ate breakfast and got ready with no incident. Hobie was still alittle tired and a bit cranky I might add. He was wearing an oversize blue Adidas tee shirt and blue tear away nylon pants, with his practice Nike America soccer shorts underneath. It was still abit brisk outside so Hobie wanted to stay warm. We hopped into the Tahoe and drove over to pick up Eric. Another of Hobies' buddies on the soccer team. They get along famously too. They do everything together. They also get into trouble sometimes together too.
Erics' parents are very nice and very well in control of Eric without getting heavy about it. Sure they discipline him but not very often because Eric for the most part is well behaved. So as far as I can see, Hobie and Eric are a good match. We arrive at practice, and Hobie and Eric get ready. Eric is in all Nike gear. Boy these kids could do a comercial for the companies considering all the gear they wear. Anyway practice is underway. Drills for passing, goal shots, tactics for defense and offense. It is a tough good practice. I played in my day, and these kids were doing allot better than I did that is for sure.
Hobie was getting annoyed at the repetition of the drills and started to goof off and Eric joined in with him. The coach is very good and very patient. He told the boys to get it together, or they are going to warm the bench with their butts this Saturday. Well, the next 15 minutes or so, the boys behaved themselves.
Another team was coming by to practice too, so the 2 coaches who know each other pretty well thought a practice scrimmage would be a great way for the boys to practice. I thought it was a great idea too. Break up the boredom of drills and let the boys apply their skills in a more real game like deal.
Well, like I said earlier, Hobie was alittle tired and cranky this morning. He started to act up again. I was recruited to be a ref and some of the other parents were line judges and the like. Well, Hobie tripped another player from the other team. I saw it and called him on it, and give him a yellow card. Hobie didn't like that at and said " he was going for the ball and the not the other guy." That wasn't the case really. I saw him make contact with the other boy before Hobie hit the ball. Hobie got even madder. I told him to calm down, it is just practice anyway.
Well Hobie is too competitive to let that one go, but he is pretty sly too. So he makes me believe that he is okay, and then un benounced to me, he schemes with Eric to take down some of the other players when I am not watching. They would trip, push ,shoulder, or whatever to get even with my call on Hobie.
Kids...man oh man. So, the 2 of them were playing very rough with the other team. And Hobie and Eric doubled teamed one kid who seeemed to be taunting them. So Hobie and Eric colided and crushed this boy on a breakaway.
The taunting boy went down hard. Amazingly...cause refs are known to miss allot of the action, I caught what Hobie and Eric did, and whistled and stopped play. I ran over to see if the taunting boy was alright. He just got the wind knocked out of him. Hobie and Eric were high fiving each other and said "takedown...alright....yeah...he ain't so tough now." I instantly red carded the both of them, and made them sit at the sidelines till I was through.
The rest of the game went without incident. And I apologized to the coach and parents of the taunting boy for Erics and Hobies action and poor sportsmanship. Everyone was understanding, and we have a very tight soccer community and we know boys will be boys...good or bad.
So it was time to go, and I am not happy with these 2 unruly boys. They are bragging about how they took down that boy and were having a great time with it all. Well I was walking behind them and gave them both a good swat on the seat of their nylon warmup pants. They felt it pretty good too, and turned around rubbing their butts saying ..."Hey".. I just pointed to them and calmly said..."march"... and they did. We got into the Tahoe and drove back to my house.
Erics parents were doing some errands so I was going to watch Eric anyway. We came into my house and I had them go to the living room and wait for me. As I said in my previous stories, I am not a yelling parent, and discipline to make a point. Well Hobie and Eric were about to find out what the point was going to be.
I went to the kitchen and brought back the spanking paddle spoon I used on Hobie on some occasions. Before anything, I sat down on the couch and had Eric and Hobie face me, and asked them if they wanted to tell me what was going through their minds crunching that boy like that. And also their poor sportsmanship, and behavoir. They said the usual things that boys would say, but Hobie is the most truthful one and ...said.."yeah it was stupid..and fun at the time, but we really didn't want to hurt him"..Eric stood there knodding his head in agreement with Hobie. Hobie asked me if I was going to spank him?? I returned and asked do you think you deserve one for your actions today?? He sighed yes. I looked at Eric and asked if he wanted me to tell his parents and let them deal with him, or if Eric wanted me to discipline him instead.
True to form, these boys did everything together and Eric agreed to let me discipline him. I really didn't want to punish these boys but I really want them to be more responsible and better behaved boys that they usually are anyway.
Well, fine then I said. I told them to turn around and stand and don't move. I started with Hobie first. I hand spanked those tear away nylon pants good and hard. Smack...smack...smack...the boys butt was warming nice under those nylon pants. Well, after 50 or so good sound swats to the seat of Hobies pants, I grabbed the side of them, and yanked them down to his ankles. Now his Nike America soccer shorts were in plain view. I spanked the seat of those shorts till Hobie thought for sure they were on fire. I then grabbed the side of his soccer shorts and pulled them down swiftly to his ankles to join his warmup tear away pants. With that I grabbed Hobie firmly by the arm and put him over my knee and spanked that cute red butt of his good with the spoon. I gave him another good hard 35 whacks with the paddle. Hobie was screaming and bawling like a banshee. I had never bared Hobies butt before so this was new for both of us. I put the paddle down and lectured softly to Hobie that I don't ever want to do this again, but I will if I have to. I picked Hobie up and hugged him and told him that I love him and told him to stand in the corner till I told him otherwise. Hobie waddled there with his pants cuffing his legs some, walking was a challenge.
Now it was Erics turn. I moved till I was directly behind his still warmup pants nylon clad butt. I spanked Eric very hard on the seat of those warmup pants. He has a very cute bottom like Hobie, but that was not important now. I spanked him again and again. I then stopped, and grabbed the side of his Nike dark blue nylon warmup pants and pulled them down to his ankles as I did Hobies pants. I spanked his soccer shorts real hard too. Eric was crying pretty good now too. I spanked that wayward butt till you could cook steaks on that burning butt. I yanked down Erics soccer shorts and took him over my knee and spanked him hard with the paddle spoon till he shreaked like siren. I stopped after giving him the same I gave Hobie. I admonished Eric the same as Hobie and hugged him and softly told him, it was ok, calm down now..sh. hssshhhh..it was ok. I told Eric gently to stand in the other corner for awhile and compose himself. He waddled over as Hobie did to his corner and for the next half hour they stood there.
Well enough was enough, I didn't like and still don't like grudges and I felt they had been punished enough. I told the boys to pull up their shorts and pants and come into the kitchen, and have some lunch and ice cream with me. I let them help me make the lunch, and we all talked. And the boys said they were sorry about crunching the other boy and that they would apologize to him and the other coach and the parents. I stopped what I was doing and gave both the boys a big hug and kissed them on their heads. Like I said, they are truly good boys. M. P.