Welcome to Rumbelstip Vermont. This is Erica Heilman.

I never played teen sports or I never played them well.

In eighth grade I played soccer and all I really hoped for was that no one would pass me the ball, ever.

That's pretty much where I got with team sports.

This year my 11 year old son Henry started playing club soccer.

Club soccer is what you play if you want to play a lot more and at a higher level than you could on your school team.

And if your parents willing to pay and drive sometimes 400 miles a week to practices

and games.

So this was his first year and my first year as a real soccer mom. And I have to say it's not as easy as it looks. It brings out a kind of parenting

Tourette's that's almost impossible to control.

This is a show about soccer and about soccer parents, and it features two trusted area experts, my son's

coach, Craigstone, and my sister. You'll also hear some recordings I made at

soccer tournaments where I spent the better part of four months and because it's my

podcast and I'm allowed to say whatever I want on it. I just want to say

that the audio where the guys are screaming at each other, those guys are from

Connecticut. I'm just saying. We soccer parents experience exultation and shame and misery and anger. There are

long periods of waiting around and there are lots of stinky socks and sometimes it's so beautiful

to watch the game it can make you cry. Welcome.

Probably one of my most proud and embarrassing moments as a soccer mom was when my boys were when my boys were both playing in a game against the best team in the state. And I showed up on the sideline with a cowbell. The boys and their teammates will never let me. And you know the

funny thing about it is that their teammates are from all over the world so I

thought it was going to be a slam dunk, you know,

the Spaniards and Mexicans, all of whom have great cheers,

...