Allergy infested spring break turned to soccer week

I'm sleepyhead as I had to wake up at 12am in reacting to the 2nd son coughing a lot. But I wanted to type this up before the day really turns.

The past one week very our boys found very little friends of them in the neighborhood as lots of families apparently took advantage of a week-long spring break and went on vacation. As we took 2 days off back in March when a grand-mother came by, we chose to stay.

Adversarial allergy in north Georgia

In hindsight, we may have appreciated if we went out of the area. 3 of us were hit by a terrible allergic reaction, potentially to pollen. My wife says the reaction is the worst in her life. But 5-yr old AS is affected in the worst way. It's been a week since he started coughing. At night he has had to wake up multiple times a night, we have had to give him nebulizer treatment every night. At day#7 we are not seeing it ceasing yet...

US Soccer's new development, incredible soccer clinic for kids

On positive side, we somehow received an invitation from Georgia Soccer, a nonprofit org, to kids' free soccer clinic in Atlanta so I signed up for both boys and went.

Turned out the event was co-hosted by US Soccer Federation (wikipedia.org) and AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization) if I'm not mistaken. 2-hr clinic incl. brief presentation, and lots of free perks. It was such a lavish act.

I assume this generosity is related to lots of what's going on in Georgia regarding soccer; US Soccer Federation announced (georgia.org) the relocation of its HQ to the state. Also just in 2 days SheBelieves Cup, a friendly match inviting 4 national teams incl. the USWNT would take place at the Mercedes-Benz stadium right next to the clinic's venue. I have yet to fathom what all of these would mean to children in the area, but it sounds like great stuff coming along, and if they are, I'd like my kids to be part of it.

Family engagement in soccer

2 days after the clinic, we watched a women's soccer game b/w US and Japanese national teams, which I booked weeks ago. I thought "Japan" + "soccer" would be more than sufficient causes for both my boys and my wife to go all the way to Atlanta on Saturday. I also wanted my kids to see themselves in a huge stadium at some point.

Long story short, we enjoyed very much! 8-yr old has been into soccer, he previewed with me a lot about national teams (mostly about US team, USWNT, as they post a lot of videos as opposed to Japanese organizations). My big surprise was that my wife m usually gets distracted incredibly quickly at sports events and just enjoys atmosphere with alcohol in hands, but this time she was into the game (despite distraction from little kids). We were at 3F in this huge stadium and yet the view was not bad at all. The nice enough view, and the fact that players are women might have been touching cause for her to be drawn into not just today's game but also future soccer events.

Later in the day sparked conversation about how we want to help kids shine, how we can assist kids to develop and keep passion. We don't know how things work out. Soccer, martial arts, academics, arts, hobbies, friendship. Whatever that is. 

Undoubtedly very first in-stadium experience for all 5 of us of watching pro-level soccer, here in Atlanta, GA. 8-yr old HS is hiding as he was emotional after Japan's loss (cbssports.com). But we are proud to be a part of the history for breaking attendance record for U.S. women's national team friendly (atlutd.com).

Totally unexpectedly, the event offered lots of perks - caps, soccer balls with bags, and free lunchboxes. In return I sought to buy apparels on site but they ran out early.

Poor AS coughed a lot and had to do breathing treatment before and after the soccer clinic.

View from the venue the clinic took place, "Home Depot Backyard", right next to the Mercedes-Benz stadium.