The world of preteen soccer can be brutal

My nephew is a geek. At 11, he is very smart, but more comfortable with adults and computers than with most boys his own age. He has a small posse of close friends and he's happy, so this doesn't bother me. He's sensitive and still very much a little boy -- he still sleeps with individually named plush toys. That's who he is and that's fine. He's his own boy and he has to be who he is, and grow up at his own speed, in his own way.

He loooooves playing in the park district soccer league. It's more advanced than school gym class soccer and he's learning moves that has helped in do well in the schoolyard. BUT he's nowhere near as good as the other kids in the park district league and he's not making any friends. According to my mother, who attends his games, he seems nervous on the sidelines, occasionally chewing on a sleeve. And when he was pulled from his last game, she heard one of the boys say, most emphatically, "GOOD!"

My mom is incensed, and hopes that he drops out of the league before the season ends, before he figures out that his teammates don't like him. And she doesn't want him to play again next time (I think there may be a summer league).

I know she's being a loving grandma, but I think she's looking at his life through her eyes. He's a sensitive kid -- I bet on some level he knows he's not as good as the other kids, and he must know the other boys don't huddle around him on the sidelines. Yet he maintains he loves the games and even gets upset if a practice is canceled due to a muddy field. His dad is a great guy but not much of a jock. I think my nephew likes the coaching he receives and the extra practice that enables him to impress the classmates at school, who he cares about more.

I just hope my mom's concerns don't bleed through, and that he doesn't interpret her loving concern as disappointment in his performance. For I don't think he perceives it the way she does, and I doubt he's unhappy with the situation on his own.