Return of Football

We're right back at it - Football.

When it comes to soccer, our kids will always say yes, well, at least the older two.  Being involved in a team sport is probably the best way to immerse themselves besides being in school all day.  It was not easy to find football clubs here in Bordeaux.  I had sent numerous emails to various soccer clubs prior to coming to Bordeaux inquiring about kids' soccer programs.  Not many of them responded to my emails.  One guy named Stephanie responded and told me to call him and discuss further.  Right on!  We could totally hash out the details without any language barrier over a phone call. 🤣 I didn't have the guts to make the call obviously.  It was a bit discouraging to say the least.  You'd think it would be easy to find kids soccer programs in a country that has won two world cups.  Not so.  

So my only lead here in Bordeaux was Stéphane.  Thanks to Evania, our only French interpreter, her French improved drastically within the first week.  I was sure we were in good hands.  We had a good discussion with him over the phone, with some pauses, eye brow raises, shoulder shrugs or sometimes just blank looks on our faces hoping to squeeze more details from the other end of the line.  At the end of it, we still had a ton of questions unanswered, but the gist of it was our kids would try it and he would decide.  Big win! 😁 

However, Stéphane failed to mention a very crucial piece of information.  Or maybe he did, it was lost in translation.  He has no girls teams.  Not even for little kids.  So Levina ended up palying with 8 or 9 year old boys.  Below Levina is doing a warm-up with the boys.  We're setting her up for HUGE success here, aren't we?  I'm gonna hear from her this time!!!

Noah, on the other hand, eager to get on the field, had very little reservation, and fit right in.  At times he didn't understand the coach, a couple of boys actually translated for him. 

For Evania, Stéphane was afraid that the physical gap between the 14 year old boys and girls might be too big and that might result in injuries.  He put her with the 13 year old boys to see how she fit in. 

Although Evania didn't say much before her tryout, I knew she was probably a bit nervous.  After all, she's only played on the girls team back home.  She dragged her little sis to jog around the turf with her to warm up.  That's what sisters are for right?😆  She looked tense from head to toe.  She didn't loosen up until her foot touched the ball.  She was in her natural habitat.  At the water break, I quietly asked her how she had felt.  She just flashed me a big smile 😀 "This is the best soccer I've played Mama...these boys are so fast and skilled, way better than any team I've played with."

So at the end of the night, Stéphane came up and pointed at Noah "uh...small player...but good sequence".  To Evania "I know football.  She's no problem".  To Levina "Bonne"  He will take all three kids.  

Now to register them with his club, Union Saint Jean.  Oh man I could dedicate another whole blog about it. LOL...French are notorious for their paper work and manual processes.  It took us 1 hour by bus to get to his office (got to see a different part of the city), and 1.5 hours to fill out forms for 3 kids.  Each form was 6+ pages front and back including medical conditions.  The admin was so patient, explained every single section on the form, and then input all the info into the computer.  Why was this not an online process?  It takes 10 min max to register a child for soccer via Lakehill PowerUp online system.  😅  

Cost!  I was very pleased to see the cost wasn't astronomical, compared to the fees we pay in Canada.  Their soccer season runs from Sept to the end of June.  The cost varies a bit depending on the level ranging from 230 Euro to 300 Euro for the entire 10 months period.  With the current exchange rate, that's about 330 CAD to 450 CAD each child.  And the part Noah is most excited about...the kit.  The cost includes a complete kit (jersey, jacket, track pants, shorts and socks).   Back home, we would pay roughly $350 each child for Sept to March (regular season), and for Spring soccer, we would have to pay again.  For all three kids, the admin pro-rated the fees, so we paid for 6 months, instead of 10 months.  He made sure we understood that.  I'm starting to like French people.  Their frankness and doing everything by the book is growing on me.