Green and Simple: Does Organized Soccer Count?

I have been on a quest to have our family spend more time in nature, both through structured activities, like hikes and visits to nature centers, and more casual activities, like keeping a nature journal or observing clouds and weather. We have also gotten involved in soccer, which made me wonder … does time spent on the soccer field count as time connecting with nature?

In February, with just minutes to spare until the impending deadline, we signed up all three kids for soccer through the Alexandria Soccer Association. It was a big leap for our family … our first foray into organized team sports. We are an introverted lot and are attracted to individual activities, like biking, riding scooters, running and reading books.

We thought the kids could benefit from the extra time outdoors, the opportunity to hone their collective problem-solving and collaboration skills, and the chance to engage with adults who were neither school teachers nor parents.

Long before we had kids, I remember a friend and co-worker who’s son played on a soccer team. It seemed as though their entire weekends were spent perched on the side of a soccer field. It's not my preferred way to spend weekends, but spring was coming and the kids’ energy levels were high. Plus, my husband was nostalgic about his own days kicking the ball around the soccer field with friends and wanted his own kids to have similar memories. We took the plunge. 

We got the schedules only a week before practice was to start, and I felt completely overwhelmed. I had to create a spreadsheet to keep track of the various practice and game schedules, the contact information for the different coaches, the color jersey to be worn on game days, and snack duties. As I plugged the dates into the calendar, I was saddened by the activities we would not be doing on Saturday mornings, like going to opening day at the Cherry Blossom Festival at the Building Museum or the ACE Green Living Expo.

Sure, we could go after soccer practice, but that’s not how we roll. If we are going to head into D.C. for family friendly activities or to any event likely to draw a big crowd, we like to be there when it opens, when parking is a breeze, and before the crowds and crankiness set in.

Although I initially felt a bit resentful about what we would miss, after the first week of practice my attitude shifted. The kids all have practice on different days and at staggered times: Mondays at 4:15 p.m., Tuesdays at 5 p.m., and Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. So, after collecting the kids from school and related activities, we have snacks and head to a soccer field. Now instead of doing homework while sitting at the kitchen table or spread across the living room floor while I cook dinner, we do homework on the field or at a picnic table nearby. One goes off to practice and the others play on the playground with each other, school mates, or siblings of soccer players once homework is done.

It’s been great for me as well. I will spend at least an a hour and a half three afternoons a week and one morning each weekend outside. Sometimes this time is spent connecting with fellow parents and building new or enhancing existing relationships. Sometimes it’s spent marveling at the entertaining drills and exercises that the kids do during practice, trying to spot the woodpecker or watching the leaves and flowers grow and the trees fill their branches as the skyline thickens each week. And, sometimes, it’s spent like this, basking in the sunlight, typing to the beat of the cacophony of birds and insects in song, watching from a distance as the kids navigate playground politics.

So, even though we are not on a nature scavenger hunt or hiking through the woods, for me this counts as connecting with nature. It is time I would have spent indoors, marshaling homework, cobbling together dinner, and trying to avoid refereeing sibling squabbles.

Rather than soccer days being ones that I dread, I find myself easing into them, loving the super easy meals we now eat on soccer nights and enjoying the fact that the kids sleep a little more soundly with their extra dose of fresh air!