Our Vacation In Italy: Over 10 Years in the Making…

Posted on September 4, 2016 Updated on September 4, 2016

Our trip to Italy this summer hit home very hard for me. It made me realize that for over ten years I had my priorities all screwed up. I have this character flaw… I am loyal AF and when I am committed to something I stick to it like velcro. For over 10 years I have volunteered at a youth soccer club as coach and also IT person for their office. The coaching gig started innocently enough. Our son, at a very young age, was keen with a soccer ball. We knew we wanted him in soccer but being he was terribly shy I volunteered to help coach so I would be there for him. My son started soccer at the age of four. That was thirteen years ago. As the years went by and we went from recreational soccer to competitive and I from casual assistant to coach, things changed. That sense of obligation was too strong and in the end it clouded my judgment. Family vacation time became non existent. We would take a few days here and there and always around the soccer schedule. During this time the furthest we went was probably New Hampshire. The last few years have been difficult for me at this club for various reasons I won’t get into in this post but mostly because the technical director in charge has no clue what a volunteer means to youth clubs like this one. Without volunteers, youth clubs won’t exist!! Plain and simple. He fails to ‘get that’. Add the fact the he and the President of the club are close friends and you have a recipe for disaster.

This club has gone downhill since the appointment of this technical director. The hypocrisy that exists is beyond words and it opened my eyes. Unfortunately it took a personal incident to get me to smarten up but I guess better late than never. It was like a huge slap to the back of the head. The kind like DiNozzo got on NCIS! Unfortunately I can’t turn back time and I wish I could just for the sake of my son. My daughter, who is a few years younger, has had it actually easier in general but as well it helps that I will never make this mistake again.