Soccertime

Sophie and Bella are doing soccer this fall, and they are loving it so far! They have been practicing for a few weeks and had their second game today. Though neither one of them has played soccer before, they are both giving it their best and enjoying the camaraderie and competition . . . ., but not the bugs. In fact, Bella refused to go close to one side of the goal when she was playing goalie for part of the first game. She said "there were two big, loud bugs over there, and I didn't want to get stung." Luckily for her, the shots were all on the side she was willing to defend and she stop all the goals but one. Her coach and team even gave her a standing ovation during halftime for all the goals she stopped.

If you know Bella, you know that she is somewhat reserved in public and doesn't like a lot of public attention on her. So playing goalie was not her favorite assignment to say the least. She ended up in tears before her rotation was through, not because she was playing poorly, but becasue all of the attention was focused on her. At one point, during a water break, her Dad had to go on the field and give her a little pep talk. Emme saw that Bella was upset, so she ran on the field too and gave Bella a big hug and said, "It's OK, Bella." It was so dang cute!

Sophie also played a little goalie her first game, to slightly less stellar results (the opposing team was pretty good), but when she got in the midfield, she displayed strong dribbling and passing skills. Her coach applauded her in front of the whole team for her hustle and effort. And during her second game, which her team one, she had an assist and a couple of other passes that could have been assists if the goal kicks would have gone in.

Well, so far so good with soccer. But let's see how everyone is feeling about it come mid November when the season ends. That seems like a long season for little league soccer, doesn't it? And with two practices each week for both girls, it sure is a lot of time at the soccer fields for our family. But, as I said, so far so good!