Another one who could have written that post for her DS7.
while i'm hoping for the constant soccer playing craze at recess to fade at some point by upper elementary, not playing soccer in Europe can hurt you socially way beyond school age. But I am expecting another 10 years or so worth of PE teachers to shove it down his throat, so no need to force him into soccer club now. He would just sink. So,he'll have to play with the girls (which he prefers anyway) for a while longer.
DS actually really got into the spectator aspects of soccer during the World Cup, and his way of sort of participating in the recess games was crafting the red and yellow (and green and black) cards for refereeing, making up elaborate fair play rules over and beyond the official ones,learning stats about teams by heart, drawing the intricate design of the Brazuca ball, and (according to what he told me) occasionally jumping into the fray and scoring 3 or 4 goals for his team, the last one I am sure being pure wishful thinking but he seemed to enjoy the fantasy.
I make him do martial arts too (he is reluctant to do any sport, I finally gave up on making him swim, but even though he does not want to go to judo training he enjoys it once he's there and it helps his coordination no end) and I am hoping for it to become "cool" among his classmates soon.
