A Good Sport

But also importantly,there are the soccer moms. Most of us are here not just because the coaching is fun to watch regardless of how competitive you are,but also that the coaches are super-easy on the eye.

And like any gaggle of grown-up girls,we talk a lot of fashion amidst the balderdash of mundane domesticity. In the last month alone,I learned that the must-have shoe isn’t from Gucci’s closet this season,it’s actually a fitness-friendly invention of a 40-year-old mother of two from London. I’ve learned to admit that even though we may love our designer labels to death,the only place to get a T-shirt that fits you well is the high street. And I’ve also met a pair of grey,bug-eye Miu-Mius that I have to bring back from my summer hols.

The kids,courtesy the fee and location of this excellent soccer school,are little snobs as well. Mine will not stop talking about his vacations in Paris,London and Barcelona. His car pooling young friend is innocently describing his six cars. And another cutie wants me to let my 4-year-old ride in his car because he has a sun roof.

I asked him his father’s name,wondering if I would know his parents. He didn’t tell me at once,but said that he appeared in the papers often. He is the son of a celebrity photographer.

My definition of a soccer mom was like anyone else’s. Since the term originated in the US,she was usually a white middle-class woman who did little else but drive her kids (in an SUV,mind you) to school,soccer and assorted activities all day.

A year ago,I began writing from home. Six months ago,I turned into a soccer mom myself. While I discovered nuances of the Beautiful Game and that Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi actually scored 58 goals in one year,I also learned being a at-home mother actually made me a little smarter and more smug.

For one,a smaller income meant spending on things you will love and wear for a longer time. I became less of an advertising-driven consumer and turned myself into a thinking shopper. I learned the crucial difference between the price of something,and the value of it.

Interestingly,the term ‘soccer mom’ has political provenance. During the 1996 Republic Convention in the States,a news article appeared in The Washington Post that suggested Bill Clinton was targeting a new voter demographic: “the soccer mom”. She was described as “the key swing consumer in the marketplace,and the key swing voter who will decide the election”.

Now,isn’t that a great goal to have?

( namratanow@gmail.com )