You Will Have Fun, DAMMIT!

We recently signed Charlie up for a mini soccer camp with a couple of his buddies from preschool. Yeah, I know, soccer for 3 year olds, the idea sounds about as plausible as starting a cat farm. But it was cool. The coaches sang silly songs while everyone sat on their soccer balls. The kids got to kick balls to knock down the orange cones in the 'carrot patch' and dribble around the flags in the 'rain forest'. They did a great job making it age appropriate and really fun for everyone; everyone that is except Charlie.
My kid wanted nothing to do with soccer or being part of a group. Literally, as soon as we would pull into the parking lot, his body would go limp. I would have to physically remove him from his car seat. He would listen to the warm up songs and that was the extent of his participation. Once the physical act of playing began, he would retreat to the top of the hill and watch all his friends below run around, scream, laugh, and have fun. Even the town's industrial lawn mower held more interest as he followed it around the park.
Brian took him to his first practice and vowed never to go back. He was so pissed that Charlie wouldn't participate.
The coaches kept telling us to run around and play, that Charlie would want to model our behavior. This went on for 3 weeks. 3 weeks of me running around with a bunch of 3 year olds, yelling, "Come on Charlie, it's fun!" 3 weeks of Charlie still choosing to sit on the hill in isolation. The coaches stopped asking me to model and began to placate me with, "Every child will find their own path" or "He's making his own way." I felt like saying, "Hey Coach Dave, fuck you!" (probably not the best modeling behavior).
I told Brian I was bailing on the last couple of practices because it was exhausting both mentally and physically - 'modeling' with a 25 lb baby on my back is a work out and then some. So my husband chose to lecture me about values and not wanting to encourage quitting. Umm, I'm sorry Mr. One Time Practice, what did you just say? I understood his point, but seriously, he's 3, he doesn't know if there are 2 more practices or 200.
I did go to the last few practices and Charlie actually participated. He laughed at Coach Dave's silly songs. He ran around in the rain forest and the carrot patch. Of course after 15 minutes he started whining for a snack, but I was happy he did what he did and that we finished out the season.
Watching your own child be excluded (whether voluntarily or otherwise) is really painful. And not being able to encourage him is frustrating. Though there is a part of me that is proud of him for not following the crowd, for doing his own thing. Maybe this will save me from uttering those words made infamous by every mother across the world, "If he was going to jump off a bridge, would you jump, too?"