Spring Soccer

Josh sent me an email one day in March, letting me know that he had signed Yaks and Boo up for Spring Soccer.  Spring soccer in our neck of the woods can be unpredictable, weather-wise.  Most people prefer Fall soccer, because the skies are a little less gray, the snow flurries a little less "side-ways blowing", and the grass is a little less soupy.  However, I think it was a great experience for the kids.  They seemed to enjoy the excuse to get outside, be with some friends, and burn off our severe case of cabin fever!  

Boo is a pretty good player, I think!  For her first season ever, I can see a lot of potential there.  She's got long legs, can run pretty fast, and she's quite coordinated for her lankiness.  Her team was made up of 2nd and 3rd graders, and mostly boys.  She did a good job holding her own.

Boo's wardrobe choices crack me up!  I couldn't bring myself to buy the Parks and Rec shirt for 20$, unsure if they would ever wear them again, so we made do with the white t-shirts and blue (ish) shirts already in their drawers.  Little did I know, EVERYONE had the team shirts except us!   

Of course she wouldn't wear the only clean blue shirt we had because it was long-sleeved!
 Purple with a butterfly?  Close enough. 

Boo's coaches were a couple sorority girls who were coaching as part of a class requirement.  The kids loved them, and they had a lot of energy and enthusiasm.

"I'm open!" 

One of the moms captured this shot right before she scored her first game goal yesterday.
It was pretty awesome!  

 Yaks was on a team with several of his classmates and a Kindergartener, which made it really fun.  His coaches were the parents of one of the players, and they had a real emphasis on team work, learning skills and just having fun!

 Yaks is still finding is feet, as-it-were.  He kind of panics when he gets the ball, and instead of looking ahead for a teammate to pass, or driving to the goal, he'll do this wonderful little fleet-feet footwork routine:  pull-back, turn the ball, shuffle-step, dribble right, pull-back.  But, his coaches are fantastic,"Great pull-back, Yaks!  That's the way to do it!  Beautiful!"  Bless them.

He's doing it right now.  You can tell the two girls don't know WHAT to make of it.  

Yaks and his British teammate.

Almost as entertaining is his little British teammate, pictured above.  He's like a little whirlwind, and never holds still - his strawberry blonde hair sticks out every-which-way, and he's so cute when he talks!  "Pass me the bowl!  I'm on the pitch, Mum!  Wayers my watuh bottel?"  His parents are equally charming, and it's so fun to watch them cheer him on with GREAT enthusiasm, as soccer a big part of life in England.  Yesterday his Mum was drinking a cup of tea while watching - I kid you not.  So awesome!

I think Yaks mainly enjoyed it because he had a good group of pals on his team.  When they were on the sidelines, they were creating grass sculptures or doing dog-piles.  I asked Yaks if he'd like to sign up for Fall soccer with the same group, and he surprisingly said, "No, thanks."  Ha, ha.  

I was excited we got to watch both of their games as a family yesterday (we often have to divide and conquer), and that they each scored a goal in their game!  They were pretty excited.  It's been a fun way to spend a few hours together on Saturday mornings, and for the kids to get out after school and burn off some energy at practice.  Surprisingly fun!  We'll see if one or both of them wants to continue!