Another angle on football

As I believe has probably been discussed on these pages, I live in a household of football obsessives. Myself included. And, due to LittleBear's devotion to his sport, I have found myself volunteering to "help out" at his team. "Helping out" has migrated to becoming an assistant coach, and being DBS checked and trained in First Aid and Safeguarding. Oh, and holding the purse strings for the team. And registering the team for tournaments. And buying new kit. And communicating with the parents. Bit by bit it's sort of crept up on me.

As of tonight however, I have started my training to become an FA Level 1 qualified football coach. I completed my first online module, ready for starting the practical training on Saturday. The fact that I've never played football is beginning to prey on my mind somewhat. Just a bit. The thought of making a complete and utter idiot of myself is becoming a more and more terrifying, and realistic, prospect.

BigBear and LittleBear are being very understanding of the fact that I will be spending 9am-5pm on Saturday and Sunday learning to coach football. LittleBear is being reminded rather frequently that it's all for his benefit, and he has no excuse for complaining. BigBear is simply being very understanding.

Back to the preparation for the course however.

Step one was the need to own astroturf boots. I decided to check out what was available online, which led to this disheartening discovery on the Sports Direct website:

Really?

(There are such things as football boots for women, but frankly, I don't see the need for such a thing. I've bought plain black men's boots. Feet are feet, and my weird feet are weird no matter what gender they are)

The next step was to complete the Introduction to Coaching module online. Most of this was relatively passive and involved reading and watching videos. There were some interactive sections however, with the answers apparently being used for discussion at the sessions at the weekend. I confess that I have been feeling a little low lately. Not quite at the top of my game. Somewhat over-tired and over-emotional. Being confronted with this question was a bit more than I could handle:

Why can't I pick "none of the above"?

Honestly, asking someone who's self esteem is crashingly low what their positive traits are is not going to go well. I was prepared to admit to "Reliable" without feeling like a fraud, and then spent five minutes clicking on things, then unclicking again.

I've only just finished this module and I already can't remember which three qualities I grudgingly admitted to. Which is going to be another way to make an idiot of myself on Saturday when we discuss our answers.

This is beginning to feel like a very, very foolish idea indeed.