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SOCCER MOM Secrets - Chapter 14
A lingering smell of doused chicken and sweet corn mingled with the summer breeze as the annual Bayern Club barbecue was under way. The event was held for all Bayern Beach teams—all ages, including boys and girls—at Mile Square Park. All families were encouraged to attend the event, which was a kick-off for the season set to begin the second week of September, a mere two weeks away.
After winning the second match in the bracket, the team and their families were in good spirits, ready to celebrate their victories and talk about tomorrow’s quarter-final game. If Bayern won that game, they’d be off to the semi-finals and, depending on how SoCal Splash was doing, it would be possible that both teams would meet up again in the final.
Prior to leaving the soccer field, Renae reminded all families about the BBQ and gave directions to the park. Lisa, however, paid little interest to the announcement. While the families had been gathering their belongings and heading off to the park, she debated with herself whether to drop Tommy off at the event or just go on home. Hell, why should we go to a BBQ and pretend I’m having a good time? She decided that they had better things to do on a Saturday than sit and chitchat with people to whom she had nothing pleasant to say. Damn that Cuco! She angrily gathered Tommy’s soccer bag and headed for their Jaguar. Mother and son walked across the grassy fields toward the parking lot.
“How do you feel about today’s games, Tommy?” Lisa asked, forcing her erratic emotions into controlled submission.
“Oh, it was okay, Mom,” Tommy answered casually.
“You’re not concerned at all that Cuco isn’t playing you?”
“No, its okay. I play sometimes and the team did real well and I was cheering for the guys. I was even talking to the coach about strategy.
“Well, strategy baloney, you’re a soccer player and I can’t believe it doesn’t bother you that you’re not on that field playing.”
Tommy didn’t want to respond. He lagged slightly behind his mother and bent over pretending to fuss with his cleats—he didn’t like to be reminded.
Lisa continued walking quickly. “Hurry up then; I wanna get out of here.” Lisa was frustrated again as usual by Cuco’s blatant disregard of her son. Like most of the other moms, she valued her place in the hierarchy of the team. She felt at the bottom right now, and not as significant as the other moms whose boys started and played entire games. She knew full well that this was not a healthy attitude, but she couldn’t help it. That’s how she felt and she made sure Ben and Tommy knew it
“Lisa, Lisa Davenport, how’re you doing? It’ so good to see you!” Sheila Barker called out from the parking lot as she saw Lisa approaching. “I see you won both of today’s games. That should guarantee you a spot to the quarter-finals for sure. Congratulations, you must be pretty happy.”
Lisa had been so caught up in her thoughts and conversation with Tommy, she was actually startled. “Oh, hello, Sheila. I didn’t realize you’d be at this tournament. How are you and Josh? Hi Josh! You look so grown up. It’s been weeks since I’ve seen you guys.” Lisa was genuinely happy to see her old friend, but struggling to impersonate cheerfulness.
“Oh, we’re well, you know, same old soccer stuff. Josh got picked up by the Costa Mesa Breakers after we left Bayern Beach. He loves it there. They’re not as obsessive as Bayern about winning everything,” Sheila said snobbishly. “It’s quite refreshing, actually. The coaches and parents and families are very supportive and encouraging.”
“Well, you may have a point there,” Lisa responded sullenly.
“Oh my god, you agree with me?” Sheila asked with feigned astonishment. “Things must not be going well in Bayern land. I thought you and Skye were the benefactors of that team,” she teased.
Before Lisa could respond, Tommy had caught up. He smiled when he saw Josh, and the two boys gave each other a head nod and a “what’s up?”
“Sheila, what’re you doing right now?” Lisa queried hopefully. Rather than beat around the bush, she laid it all out. “I’m so frustrated. Can you go to lunch? Tommy and Josh can hang out—they haven’t seen each other in a while. How ‘bout Fashion Island?”
Sheila glanced at her watch. “Sure we’ve got time. The team just finished their last game of the day. California Pizza Kitchen, sound okay to you?”
“Yes, I’ll meet you there.”
Lisa had been calling Ben from her cell phone during the game to give him updates. She called now to let him know of the change in plans for the afternoon.
“Don’t get so upset, babe. How does Tommy feel?” Ben asked.
“That’s what worries me; it doesn’t seem to bother him.”
“Well, then don’t worry yourself. I’ll talk to Tommy. Enjoy lunch with Sheila. I love you guys.”
“We love you too, Ben.”
Lisa caught the 55 Freeway southbound and drove toward the coast. She exited on MacArthur, turned onto San Joaquin, straight into the Fashion Island parking lot. En route Tommy had removed his team jersey and put on a fresh t-shirt. He replaced his cleats with skateboard sneakers—untied, of course. His mop of sandy brown hair fell over his eyes and he tried unsuccessfully to push it off his face by brushing it back with his fingers. Sheila and Josh were waiting at the restaurant. They were fortunate that the wait was short. The party of four was seated in a booth by the window, but had to traverse the baby stroller brigade to get there. “Gee, I didn’t know this place was so popular with the new moms,” Lisa commented while squeezing through the obstacle course.
“I think the attraction is the lighter fare on the menu,” Sheila remarked.
“Eating light, that’s fine with me.”
“Oh stop, Lisa! You’re such a tiny little thing. All of a size 0?”
Lisa chuckled her reply and turned to the menu. The boys shared an Original BBQ Chicken Pizza. Lisa ordered a half-portion Caesar Salad and Sheila chose the Singapore Shrimp Rolls. Lemonade for the boys and ice tea for the ladies.
“So, Lisa, tell me what’s going on over there. How’s Tommy doing with Cuco? Has anything changed since Surf Cup?”
Sheila knew there was a reason for the impromptu lunch and wasted no time finding out what. Ice cubes clinked against her glass as she stirred artificial sweetener into her ice tea.
“Hell no. Are you kidding? It’s the same,” Lisa answered bitterly. “He plays maybe ten minutes, if at all. Then at practice Cuco never gives him any instruction. Tommy always gets stuck with the weak group in scrimmages. All the coach does with the whole team is running and conditioning. Hardly any soccer drills.”
“Looks like things haven’t changed,” Sheila sympathized. “Are you and Skye and the other Newport families still funding the team? I don’t know why you guys keep doing that. Cuco sits all the white kids—who are paying his fees and the club’s dues—then plays the Hispanics all the time. Then these families start acting entitled, demanding their kids play for free! Are they kidding? We just couldn’t take it anymore.”
“Yeah, that is a problem,” Lisa agreed. “Cuco encourages that kind of behavior from the Hispanics and makes the separation between them and the rest of the kids more obvious. He doesn’t hide his favoritism for ‘his’ kids and he ignores the kids from Newport Beach. Yet it’s our kids coming to practice all the time, ON time, and we’re the ones footing the bills to make it work for everybody.”
“So how do Robert and Skye feel about the situation? And, more importantly, what do Trevor and Bryan and the other boys think of Cuco?”
“Well, I don’t think they care for him, but most of the parents are sold on the fact that we’re winning a lot. Personally, I think it’s the wrong priority to focus on at this age, but what do I know? The club doesn’t seem to care about development—just the win/loss record. And Cuco is producing the right results for them and parents,” Lisa responded woefully, pushing the salad around her plate with her fork.
“What about, Renae? Has she talked to you about it?”
“Oh, Renae tries to chant the club party line—which is, ‘we’ll support the coach because that’s the right thing to do.’ He knows best, supposedly, cuz he’s the coach. I’m not sure about her. And now she got Skye to agree to be team treasurer.”
“You’re kidding? I can see it now, Skye’s going to end up being that team’s franchise owner,” Sheila teased. “R.J.’s a good player. Does Cuco mistreat him too?”
“Yes, he does. He doesn’t discriminate on which white kid he picks on. He tells them they’re not as skilled as the Mexicans. So, teach them—that’s what we’re paying you for!” As Lisa reiterated all the details, she felt her face flush with anger and there was no stopping the avalanche of complaints. “Even Renae’s kid, Seb, gets it sometimes. But in that case, I think it’s because Seb is better than Cuco’s son, Manny. I think it’s more of a jealousy, looking out for my own kid first kinda thing. He’s never made a secret of his plan to put his own son’s interest first, above the team, above the other players.”
“Oh, I know. He told me many times Josh should be happy just to be on the same team as Manny. He said the team is winning only because of Manny and that ‘our’ kids are on the team strictly to support Manny—to make him shine. What a major ASS that man is! We should report him to the Coast Soccer League for child abuse.”
“Oh, Sheila, I don’t know whether I should’ve left like you guys did. I convinced myself to stay and try to be a team player and support Skye and Renae, but its really becoming harder and harder. I can tell you it’s so bad that Ben and I have resorted to bringing a stopwatch to the games to determine how many minutes Tommy plays. So far the minutes on the watch haven’t ticked.”
“You’re joking, right? With all that money you pay over there…”
“Oh, it’s not the money, it’s just the fact that last year under Nagib, Tommy played all the time. He was a starter. And now with Cuco coaching it’s like he’s not even there. To top it all off, he’s got his Mexican players playing even when they hardly come to practice, or do they even pay? I don’t know. I’d say that’s discrimination wouldn’t you?”
“Well, wake up, Lisa! You’re a little late in smelling the coffee, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know what to do,” Lisa lamented. “Every time I ask Tommy if he’s happy on the team, he says he’s okay. I think his devotion to his friends is more important to him right now than playing. Of course, we’ve taught him to respect the coach, so he’s not been too assertive about asking what he needs to do to play more. Then again, Cuco is too arrogant to have an intelligent conversation with a kid. So what’s the point? Ben and I are considering taking him off the team after this season is over. There is too much drama with this coach, the money, the club—ugh, I’d rather have a root canal!”
“Right, it’s probably a little late for you to switch teams. I think the transfer deadline has passed. You’re going to have to suffer through this til January when the State Cup transfer period opens up again—if you can last that long. Don’t you remember he used to coach the team in Spanish knowing full well that he had Newport Beach kids there as well who didn’t speak or understand Spanish? Do you know how difficult that was for our family to accept? And he knows English perfectly well. The kids that he brings in know English too. They all speak English. He speaks in Spanish intentionally. What’s his problem? He’s just an arrogant son of a bitch. He just wants to snub his nose at you guys. I’m sure he thinks that you may have money, but he has the power. And he’s too dumb to realize that he’s hurting the kids or maybe he’s just doesn’t care. He’s shameless, the way he takes your money then jerks your kid around with a smile on his face. He makes me sick,” Sheila spat with disgust.
“Aren’t you glad you’re away from that whole sordid situation?” said Lisa.
“Well, I’ll tell you Josh is much happier. His team may not be wining all the time but at least he isn’t being traumatized on a regular basis. What about R.J. How’s he doing?” Sheila pressed for more as the waitress leaned in to refill their ice tea.
“R.J. plays most of the time. I mean, you can definitely tell he’s not the favorite. Tommy tells me that Cuco yells at him all the time. R.J.’s like the stepchild on that team, but I don’t know if Skye realizes it. She never hangs around long enough to see it and I don’t know if R.J. tells. She’s always on business trips to New York or Hawaii or going to Europe with her husband. They’re gone so much those kids are practically being raised by Blanca. They should triple her pay.”
“Oh get out of town, Lisa, you know you’d love to have your own Blanca too. It's just too bad Skye beat you to her.”
“I’m afraid not, Sheila, been there done that. Please—I wouldn’t wish that environment on my son—having people around to do everything for you. That was my childhood. I never knew my parents and they never knew me. I manage quite well having a maid over twice a week to do housework. And Ben and I adjust our schedules to be with Tommy at his various activities, making sure one of us is there is always there to support him. Hmm, unlike Darlene.”
“Who’s Darlene?”
“Oh gosh, do you have time?” Lisa said mischievously, glancing at her watch.
“Yes, yes, tell me,” said Sheila leaning into Lisa across the table. There was always time for gossip.
“She’s new and young and cute,” Lisa responded cattily. “When you guys left, Cuco we picked up some new players. I don’t think Kyle is as good as Tommy though, and he gets more playing time than Tommy does. But, his mother, Darlene. Well, let’s just say her social life is her highest priority.”
“How do you know?”
“Well, hmm… here’s a clue, when you freely tell people that having a son is like being responsible for a backpack, I mean, what do you make of that statement, Sheila?”
Sheila gagged on her ice tea. “A backpack!”
“Yeah, I don’t think she even paid the $2.00 to be a PTA member. Here’s another clue, she’s a bar waitress at the Ocean Club. No problem finding a date there. Yep, Darlene Meter, she’s cute in that tawdry sorta way that men lust after. You know, it’s like she has ‘fuck me’ written all over her forehead.”
“Oh, one of those,” Sheila groaned.
The women took longer than should’ve been necessary making the calculation to split the tab and pay it. Sheila grabbed her purse and rose to leave. Opening her arms, she leaned in for an obligatory goodbye hug. “Dinner guests and I’ve got to run by and pick up an arrangement from the florist.” The boys had been walking around the outdoor mall and returned at the appointed time as their mothers had instructed. “I’m sure you’ll do the right thing for Tommy,” she said as they headed in opposite directions toward the parking lot.
“Was it fun to see Josh again?” Lisa asked Tommy on their way out.
“Yeah, he’s cool. Wish he was still on the team.”
“Yeah, I wish a lot of things, lots of good things for you, honey. Hope they come true,” Lisa said giving her son a squeeze.
