FOR DEFINITION OF BUSY, GO FIND A SOCCER MOM.Byline: Kathy Boccella Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire It is 5 p.m. on Friday, quitting time for most people, but Soccer Mom soccer mom n. An American mother living in the suburbs whose time is often spent transporting her children from one athletic activity or event to another. is getting ready to sprint into action. During the next 55 hours, she will attend five soccer games; travel more than 200 miles; haul several bags of spikes, balls, shin pads, shirts and socks; visit five restaurants; and wash eight dirty, smelly smell·y adj. smell·i·er, smell·i·est Informal Having a noticeable, usually unpleasant or offensive odor. smelly Adjective [smellier, smelliest uniforms. And this will have been an easy weekend. ``It's been going on so long we don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. any better,'' said Mary Louise Cardullo, whose soccer-crazed family, which includes husband Pat and their three children, lives in Pennsauken, N.J. Take a weekend drive in the fall and it's hard not to pass youngsters playing soccer. Children too young for baseball and football scatter scat·ter v. 1. To cause to separate and go in different directions. 2. To separate and go in different directions; disperse. 3. To deflect radiation or particles. n. across fields, yelling, running in different directions, their movements constant and all-encompassing. Parents who never kicked a soccer ball in their lives are pressed into service as drivers, coaches, equipment managers, fund-raisers, cheerleaders Notable cheerleaders
``My husband says he would like them all to quit sports and play instruments so we're home more often. We're never in the house,'' said Cardullo, a homemaker whose green Dodge Grand Caravan is generally packed with grass-stained kids, soccer balls and pizza boxes pizza box - [Sun] The largish thin box housing the electronics in (especially Sun) desktop workstations, so named because of its size and shape and the dimpled pattern that looks like air holes. . Cardullo's children, ages 10, 11 and 13, play two games each on the weekends. In addition, the oldest plays one or two games during the week, and the 11-year-old plays fall baseball on Saturday mornings. Practices run Tuesday through Friday between 3 and 7 p.m. Weekends are crunch time for this soccer mom, who once attended an astounding a·stound tr.v. a·stound·ed, a·stound·ing, a·stounds To astonish and bewilder. See Synonyms at surprise. [From Middle English astoned, past participle of astonen, 14 games in three days. Her dizzying schedule one recent weekend was typical. Friday at 5 p.m. she loaded the kids into the van for 11-year-old Tony's game in Pennsauken. Dinner for the children was pizza and hot dogs - at the field. After the game, she and her husband went out to dinner, while the kids watched their friends play. The Cardullos swung by the field at 9:30 p.m. to pick everyone up. On Saturday at 9 a.m., Cardullo and 10-year-old Blaise went to the Phifer Middle School field in Pennsauken for his game; she's also the coach. Her husband took Tony to his 10 a.m. baseball game Noun 1. baseball game - a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs; "he played baseball in high school"; "there was a baseball game on every empty lot"; "there was a desire for National League in Maple Shade, N.J. At 11 a.m., she took 13-year-old Rosanna and a friend to their 12:30 p.m. game in Millville, about 50 minutes away. They stopped at a Burger King for lunch and got home about 3:30 p.m. Sunday was a killer, starting with Mass at 10 a.m. (they go to a church with half-hour Masses so they can make their games), followed by religion classes for the children. The children wear uniforms to church. While her husband headed to work, Cardullo took Tony to a 12:30 p.m. game in Cohansey, an hour's drive away. Her friend, Helene, collected the other Cardullo children and took them to Blaise's 1:45 p.m. game in Medford. After stopping for lunch at the Cherry Hill Cherry Hill, township (1990 pop. 69,319), Camden co., W central N.J.; name was changed from Delaware township to Cherry Hill in 1961. Largely residential, Cherry Hill has been marked by great development and housing growth, especially since the 1970s. Mall, Cardullo returned from Cohansey about 3:15 p.m., dropped off Tony at friend Michael's house, and picked up her daughter at Wyndam, where she had ended up after the Medford game. She stopped at home so her daughter could get changed for her game later that night. On the way to the game, she picked up Tony and Michael at Michael's house so they could watch Rosanna play. Meanwhile, Blaise and his friend Andrew, who were at Helene's house, walked to the field. They watched the game and, after dropping off various friends, the family got home at 9:15 p.m. Though dashing dash·ing adj. 1. Audacious and gallant; spirited. 2. Marked by showy elegance; splendid: a dashing coat. See Synonyms at fashionable. from game to game to game sometimes leaves her breathless breath·less adj. 1. Breathing with difficulty; gasping: was breathless from running. 2. Marked by the suspension of regular breathing, as from tension or excitement: , Cardullo said the payoff is worth it. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: While youth soccer keeps millions of youngsters runn ing the field, it's the soccer moms who keep things going by driving their children to games, hauling equipment and doing endless loads of laundry. Terri Thuente/Daily News |
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