Soccer Season 3

Drew decided at the 11th hour that he wanted to play soccer this season after all, his third time. (He said after the first game last season he never wanted to play soccer again, and held onto that until the last minute for sign-ups).  And boy did we see some major improvement on his part!  It could be because of Dad's bribe - for every goal he makes, he gets $5.  It worked!  Drew said he scored somewhere between 2 and 4 goals - Mommy and Daddy's memory isn't that good anymore.

 

It was really awesome to see how much more aggressive he was.  When it came to soccer he was always so timid and afraid to get into the mix.

But this season he came out of his shell as each game passed.

Drew is Center Right (white shirt)

Drew is Center Left, facing us (white shirt)

We had the same coach as we had the first year we played and Dave was the Asst. Coach.  I think Drew will be playing for a 4th season.  Baseball starts in about 2 more months... I think both the boys in the house are looking forward to more sports on Saturday mornings.

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Soccer Fun

Just some random fun from our 3rd soccer game of the season.

Drew is #2.

 And here's a video of Drew playing shortly before his really aggressive moment.

Soccer Season Kicks Up Again

Soccer season has come returned and so we're spending our Saturday mornings out on the soggy wet field to watch Drew kick the ball around for a few hours.  I love it!

So on Saturday we had to be at the new field (they changed where we play soccer) at 8am. No problem for our early riser.  Decked out in his new uniform Drew was excited to play for the Daredevils.

There is one coach (and he plays soccer too so it's awesome) and six players.  Only 3-4 kids on the field at a time, so they're still learning the concept of the game.  It's not a normal game where they play positions yet.

Here are a few pictures of them doing drills (practice) before the game.  Drew is number 2.

And then at 8:30 it was game time.  There was some improvement from last year. 

He was a big more aggressive however there was one crying spell around the 3rd quarter when someone kicked him in the ankle.  And a few near tears when the other team was demolishing us (they don't keep score but you can't tell that to these 5 and 6 year olds).

Did I mention the other team was good?  Well 2 players anyway, we didn't see much of anyone else handle the ball from the other team.

Our coach put the kids in for 4 minutes a piece (1 quarter is 8 minutes and there are 4 quarters with 1 "half-time").  Here was Drew's "crew" during one of their breaks.  Drew is number 2 on the right, and our neighbor Christopher is 75 in the middle.

Finally the game is over - here comes the Daredevils after shaking hands with the other guys.

After the game, Drew asked if he had to play soccer next year.  I said only if he wants to.  He already said he's done after this season.  I guessed this was going to be our last season because I don't think Drew's really "into it" but it was sort of sad to hear it after the first game.  Oh well we'll enjoy it while we can.

I think some of the issue is Drew is too competitive for his own good, and if he's "losing" he gets too frustrated and wants to quit, so we'll see if that changes throughout the season.

Still Kicking!

That's right - Drew's still kicking... at soccer class that is.

Drew is next to last in the row of kids. 

He absolutely loves his weekly soccer practice at an indoor clinic.  Dave and I are in a little disagreement about registering him for Fall "real" soccer.  By "real" I mean he'd be in the Under 5 group who just goes out there to kick the ball in "games".  From what I understand it's a lot like what he's doing now.

He starts his Spring soccer session in 2 weeks - and he's already looking forward to it.  The past few weeks they've started having scrimmage games and the parents get as excited about it as the boys do!

Look Out David Beckham

Look out David Beckham because here comes Drew!!

We stopped doing the swimming lessons because he was plateauing if not regressing.  When I listed a series of activities he could switch to: karate, basketball, soccer... he first said baseball, but settled on soccer.  (out here baseball is for 5 year olds at least in the competitive leagues like Dave demands).

On Saturday Drew had his first soccer "practice" - I say "practice" because it's more of a class where they learn fundamentals... such as listening to your coach.

Drew surprised us immediately - he's a natural when it comes to soccer!

Warming up with Daddy.  Dave explained what "dribbling" was with a soccer ball in the parking lot, and Drew did it immediately inside.

Practicing his coordination with placing his feet on the ball.

Practicing "carrying" the ball down the field.

After the class Daddy and Drew went to the bathroom and Dave asked him what he thought about soccer.  Drew's response...

"I love soccer!  But what about baseball?"

Dave told Drew that it was ok to love more than one sport.  Silly kid.  Needless to say we absolutely made the right decision moving to soccer.  He cannot wait for Saturdays now.

Celebrating a Little Saint

We welcomed a little saint into the church community this past Sunday when we attended the baptism of my friend Nicole's son. Unfortunately I wasn't smart enough to pull out the camera before he went down for his nap, but I did after. (Some friend right?)

Well I managed to capture a few shots of Drew who finally got out of time out long enough to play soccer (he was fighting over toys with the 6 month old baptized little boy, which he lost by having to sit in time out).


Drew had so much fun playing soccer with the bigger kids - even went back out to play after taking a ball to the face. Atta Boy.

After a while though the much needed nap was becoming more and more obvious so we said our goodbyes to Grammy & GrampC who left shortly before we did, and but we got a few last shots.