Soccer!

My boys started soccer this year. I grew up playing soccer and loved it so I have been excited for the day I could watch them play. I started playing soccer when I was 7 and I remember asking some of the girls on my team when they started playing. When they told me 3 years old, I was shocked and a little horrified. That is weird to start at age 3. I mean how can a 3 year old play soccer? Well, I now know..........and it is as I thought when I was 7. Xander is 3 and Soren is 4 and luckily they are on the same team this year. They have a fabulous coach who works great with the kids. He coached last year and teaches great age appropriate excersizes. I am the "assistant coach". I basically just support Coach David and help round up all the kids and try to keep the focused - a mighty task at times.

Here is the team. I think Xander is the youngest and smallest and Soren is the oldest and tallest.

Xander has been grumpy for the first couple of games. Today was the first game he actually got into it.
During games it is 5 on 5 with no goalie or referee. The coach is on the field as referee but more importantly as the person directing all the kids. The ball goes out of bounce every 10-30 seconds. Once the ball goes out you have to move every child to an open spot and remind them they are playing soccer and which one is our goal. Here we are trying to position the kids.
The kids do a lot of bunching when the ball isn't out of bounds. When it gets really crazy, kids get too excited and start to dive for the ball, forgetting the no hands rule. Note here it is all orange (our team) doing the bunching.
Oh a good moment of running. Look at all the kids that remembered they are playing soccer and to run for the ball. The first 5 minutes most kids can stay focused. Then slowly over the course of the game you start to loose the interest of the kids and they begin talking, goofing off or day dreaming. Soren is notorious for this, but once the ball is on the move again he snaps out of it.

As for me, even though the kids are 3 and 4 and you can tell, I love it when it clicks and they remember they are playing soccer, where their goal is and make a score. I am seriously going to be (or am) that loud cheering parent that jumps up and down with every single goal. It doesn't even have to be my kid. In fact right now I am not even that bias which team scores it.