But Who's Counting???

It's soccer season again. This is the second time Braden has played. The first time, he was resistant to the idea of actually running up and down the field, and begged to be goalie at each game. This year started off with a huge surprise. Rusty came home from the parent meeting and announced he was the new Coach for the team! What? Now you may be asking, did Rusty play soccer as a kid? No. Did he play in high school? Nope. He was an 'assistant' coach of the team last year, but that's a pretty short resume. Luckily, he was super excited and up for the challenge. And I can not tell you how cute it is when they follow him up and down the field like a Mama Duck and her chicks... He's pretty much a celebrity in Braden's eyes, since all the kids want to hug coach, or give him high-5's. SO cute.

We have a huge team, of 16! They are all 4-5 years old and most of them haven't played before. Go Dolphins. We are three games into the season and the kids are actually getting a hang of it. To our surprise at the first game, Braden ran, kicked, stopped the ball like a pro. All the drills finally clicked for him! Then when he got the chance to play goalie, he blocked 5 goals! One, sneaky fast ball got through his legs, but no one else scored on him. He has even made a goal. Granted, it was in the wrong net, but who's counting? Thankfully, at this age it is actually against the rules to keep score...We are really lucky that so many of the parents help on and off the field. We have the hands-down best team Soccer Mom. She is so on top of things. I tell ya. It makes all the difference.
Our team is nearly split 50/50 boys and girls, and those girls are the best at ball control, and dribbling the ball down field. That is, when they aren't doing cart wheels (no kidding- during games!) or chatting. The boys aren't all business yet either though. Braden spend the better part of one quarter chatting across the field with some Mom of the team we were playing. (I think she was doing it on purpose!) There have been a few poor sport moments. That is the worst part about playing kid sports. But I digress...

The coaches make all the difference. Luckily, our team would rather let everyone play, equally and have fun, than score a lot. I really think I saw a future pro soccer player in the game today, that girl had skills... The funny things about this age is the ease at which they can cry. One girls got knocked to the ground and cried to come out. Then a minute later, she was crying to go back in! Braden cried for about 30 seconds after getting hit in the face (don't get me started) by another player (not our team) and was right back to the game. Some cry when they don't want to be goalie, other when they do. It is so funny.

Braden doing a corner kick!

Braden has learned to listen to all the coaches, and control his emotions when things don't go his way. He is doing corner kicks, and kicking the ball back in play after stopping a goal. I love it. He wants to try baseball, but I don't know if I can handle two sport seasons a year, we'll see...

Kicking the ball back on the field...

Way to go Dolphins. As long as at the end of the game, everyone played, kicked some dirt, kicked at the ball and got a treat, they are happy... Only a few more games till season is over, and then we will be ready for our favorite season...SWIM SEASON!