Yesterday my back wasn’t bothering me and I was tired of working so I decided to take advantage of the nice day and get out of the shop.

I really didn’t know what to do so I settled for going for a walk and watching some youth soccer at the athletic fields in the Valley. To my surprise I was able to walk in the grass with no pain. I didn’t stay too long because it was so hot and no shade, but I did enjoy seeing so many kids playing so hard.

The match I settled on was between two 9 or 10 year old teams. I was surprised to see one team had a very thin female playing center midfield. As I watched, I realized she was the star on the pitch. She was fearless in her challenges and had by far better ball handling skills. When she got the ball, she knew what to do with it and made great passes.

As games at this age go, it was mostly a game of kickball and poor on the ball skills except for this one player. It was fun to watch her in action.

After I got back to the shop, I reflected on the time Kris and Katrina played in their youth and my involvement with them and the sport. I was more involved with Kris since Katrina eventually lived with her mother, Patti, and moved to Seattle.

Kris’s adventure with soccer started at age seven being coached by Keith Kuester and Jim Bochmule for one year. The next year, the Spokane Valley Youth Soccer Association (SVJSA) needed coaches. So I, in my naivety, volunteered and spent the next two or three years trying to figure out the sport, keeping a step ahead of the kids by reading a book on coaching youth soccer and trying to keep them working on basic ball handling skills while hopefully they were having some fun.

In my research about developing young players in Europe I discovered the major emphasis was on the basic skills of the game for the first 3-4 years. They didn’t play in any actual games until about 10 years old. At this point the kids had enough skill to absorb and handle the basic tactics of the game.

So, I decided to follow the European model and had the kids work on catching, trapping, heading, passing, shooting, and keep away. All the skills needed to outplay opponent teams in a real game.

Of course, the object of the sport, as played in this country, is winning and that has kids playing games against other teams starting at the very beginning of their involvement. In my opinion this leads to the game being simply kick ball by a “swarm of bees” around the ball for the first few years until they finally begin to develop the skills that winning “the beautiful game” demands.

I guess I was out of step with the philosophy adopted by most parents and coaches in this country. Winning at every age seems to be most important, not development over time for the players’ and team’s progress.

That being said, there were and still are good players and teams in the United States Youth Soccer. However, there are far more successful players and teams from other countries, at least in men’s soccer, then here. So far, the United States Women’s National Teams have set the standard for international play for this country. I’m not quite sure the reasons. Maybe women here are more aggressive and better coached.

So back to Kris’s soccer successes. After he and his teammates developed beyond my coaching skills he played on a select team with a better coach. It was “manned” by more skilled players and had better success.

After a couple of years Kris then moved on to a still better select team in the River City Steelers organization coached by Arnoldo and his brother or cousin. I forgot their last names. This team had even better success and was getting to be very fun to watch. Unfortunately for me this team traveled a lot, so I spent a lot of weekends driving several team members to games in the Tri Cities, Seattle, or to Canada. Luckily, I had a Volkswagen Van.

The culmination of Kris’s youth soccer career was a trip to Europe with the Steelers, but this time coached by Jimmy Walker, who was also a basketball coach. He was good at developing game tactics. I understand, from what little I know about the team’s play in Europe, that they were quite good and the fans at the Gothia Cup in Sweden were impressed by them.

Unfortunately, I did not go with the team as my financial situation was mostly a fantasy. Now I am very disappointed I didn’t find a way to make the trip.

After high school Kris enrolled at Seattle Pacific University in the fall of 1988 to play soccer, but after one semester he could see he wasn’t going to get to play and the school was very expensive without a scholarship. He then went to the University of Washington and continued to play on intermural or rec or indoor soccer teams.

Now at age 49, Kris is still playing on both an outdoor and an indoor team for fun. I’m glad he has this in his life.

I guess maybe the two best activities I was able to provide in his life are soccer and skiing, both of which he still pursues with skill. Now he has passed these on to his son, Finn, although Finn has chosen to concentrate mostly on baseball.

Ken Kaiyala
5-12-19