Soccer Days

We were so busy during soccer season and some days were hard but I wouldn't trade it.  The kids learned so much and I loved watching their practices and games.  Now to brag about them a little bit.

Scarlett started the season out by crying through her first game and a half.  She did great at practices but was scared of the games.  In the next picture you can see her blatantly not doing what her coach said.

After her rough start she realized that the games can be fun and she wasn't scared about it again.  She played well, for a 3-year-old and was one of the big scorers on her team.  She wasn't really good at taking the ball from the other girls but whenever she did get the ball she loved to take it down the field and score a goal.  It was amazing how much she improved.  

Her team was the soccerinas (a lot of the girls did ballet) and they were very cute although not the most aggressive team.

Here is Scarlett in action.

Penelope's team were called the soccer fairies.  This being her first year playing soccer she also improved a lot over the season.

Each team had orange and black uniforms, mostly they wore orange but some games black.  Penelope was scared to go to her first practice because we didn't sign up with any friends.  She was lucky though because we did end up knowing someone on the team.  She was still very shy and barely said a word to either of her coaches.  But she wasn't shy about playing soccer.

I did not expect her to be one of the better players on her team and that is totally fine with me.  We aren't trying to raise soccer stars, just good well rounded happy kids.  But she was one of the best ones.  It seemed like Penelope and one other girl did most of the playing.  I think it helped a lot that she was older (smaller, but older) than most.

It was exciting for me to watch her do something she knows she is good at.  It seems like she is always comparing herself to Tucker.  But I could tell that she was really happy when she played her best.

Tucker's team called themselves the Falcons.   I thought they were good and after loosing the first couple games they got it together and starting winning.  I could tell the teams improvement just by watching.  Tucker loved to win and so he was very happy about that.  Both of the girls times lost almost every time but it didn't bother them and we never really talked about who won anyway.

Tucker didn't play soccer last year so when we came in this year they seemed so much older and more coordinated.  They actually play positions and they have more people on the field.  He has never even played with a real goalie before.

Tucker always wanted to be striker so he could score a goal.  After watching him it looked like he did best at center or defense but he did ok at all.  Except he played goalie one time and it did not go well.  He even says that everyone gets it past him.  I appreciate that the coaches still rotated and let all the boys learn all the positions.

Even when Tucker was little he didn't score very many goals.  I don't know if it is because he is the youngest or what because he is a ball of energy at home.  But he always managed to score a few during the season.  This season he hadn't scored yet.  He really wanted to make a goal but I tried to prepare him by telling him things like "as you get older teams usually score less goals and because you play actual positions you get less chances.  The whole thing was very exciting because he scored a goal during his last game!  We were all very happy for him.

Overall it was a good season and I hope my kids want to do it again next year!