What's In A Name?

Soccer season kicked off last night with our first practice and parents' meeting. One of the items on the agenda: choosing a team name.

This crucial decision was left in the hands of the kids (under the guidance of the coach's wife) while the coach conducted the parents' meeting. She took suggestions from the two girls and four boys assembled in a huddle on the field. One boy offered "tornadoes" and one girl threw out "Strawberry Shortcake" (the character) as possible names.

With a 2-to-1 ratio of boys to girls, you would think that Braden would be playing for the "tornadoes" in his first adventure with team sports. Right?

Wrong.

Turns out, one of the boys loves him some strawberry shortcake for dessert -- so that's how he cast his vote. The results were tied: 3 for tornadoes, 3 for Strawberry Shortcake.

In her wisdom, the coach's wife offered up a compromise. The kids accepted her idea, and thus became the Strawberry Tornadoes.

When we talked about his new team later that night and referred to it by name, Braden advised us to simply refer to them as the "Tornadoes" when we're at home.

Agreed.


(By the way, another boy showed up late and missed the vote. I would like to think that he, too, would have voted for the "tornadoes" thus preventing the need for a compromise. Instead, we'll let this serve as an example to our future voters that every vote counts.)