Soccer x2

Aubree and Bryce both recently finished their soccer seasons.  This is the first time we've had two kids playing a sport at the same time.  It meant 3 nights of practices (2 for Aubree, 1 for Bryce) and two games each Saturday ("divide and conquer" was our motto).  Throw in the fact that I was also coaching the Young Women in volleyball one night a week, and life was officially chaotic.  

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Bryce played with the same kids, on the same team as last year.  It was exciting to get to see how much all the kids have improved and matured in just one year.  Last year, it seemed like every other minute someone was crying or pouting, but this year those instances were incredibly rare.  

Like last year, he's uber happy just to be playing.  He's always smiling, and is positive about practices and games.  He's not particularly aggressive or competitive, but keeps careful track of exactly how many goals each team has scored.  He scored one goal this year (which is one more than last year!), mostly because he prefers to play defense.  

Bryce also sat on the "bench" a lot, not because of lack of skill, but because there were 10 kids on his team and only 4 could play at a time (a mind-numbingly ridiculous situation... we will be switching leagues next year). 

His team won most of their games, but win or lose, the favorite part was running under the parent tunnel and getting the post-game snack!

Bryce's practices were held at the same time as I was coaching the young women, so Mark had the pleasure of taking Bryce and all the rest of the kids.  Most of the time they didn't mind because they had a chance to play on the playground.  

Props to super daddy!

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Aubree was somewhat less thrilled to be playing again.  As in the spring, she enjoyed playing in the games.  Practices were another matter.  "No!" she'd argue, "I don't want to go to practice.  I only want to go to the games."

Sorry, sweetie.  That's not the way it works.  

Aubree also scored one goal this season, and while she certainly wasn't one of the top players on her team, she "caught up" to a lot of the girls who have been playing for years and years.  I'm proud of her for trying her best and sticking it out.  

Aubree's coach was a fan of conditioning; he made the girls run, run, and run some more.  So, although Aubree left the season feeling pretty confident she won't continue pursuing soccer, she did discover that she enjoys running.  As she puts it, "I'm not super fast, but I have stamina."

I take zero credit for any running abilities any of my children might have or develop - that's all from Mark - but I exult in it!  Oh yeah, Aubree always looked forward to the post game snack too.

Little G was often my sideline partner, and if he saw me pull out my camera to take a picture of Aubree playing, he'd insist I take a picture of him as well.  And who can say no to a face like this?

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I couldn't let the kids have all the fun playing sports, so after the young women played, I always stayed and played volleyball with the women.  I adore volleyball.  Our team didn't win too many matches, but we sure had a lot of fun.