Soccer x3

All three boys played soccer this fall. That meant a lot of careful calendaring, carpool coordinating, and dividing and conquering.

We always tell our kids they can play soccer when they turn five, because preschool soccer is pretty much a joke. I should've thought that through a little bit more when it came to Graham. As a result of his September birthday, he turned five, but wasn't yet in kindergarten. Argh. 

 

So, we ended up in the 3 and 4 year old preschool league. Having three and four year-olds (and five year-olds) on the same team is ridiculous. There's a huge difference in maturity between the threes and the fours. As the oldest on the team, Graham quickly rose to be one of the top players (you know, with the other five or nearly five year-olds). The three year-olds were mostly crying, refusing to play, picking their noses (wait, that was Graham too), or running circles around the goals.

One of Graham's very best buddies, Marshall, was on the team and they had lofty plans to score "seven or eight goals." Between the two of them, I think they were successful.

Graham loved playing soccer, but he also loved being with friends. There were numerous instances where he demonstrated that kindness is more important that ball skills. For example, after one game, he came home and told me the following story: "Mom, Benjamin knew one of the girls on the other team and he kept saying mean things to her, so I went up to her and told her she was a really good player."

 

One week during practice we had a scrimmage and put Graham and Marshall on opposite teams. Graham grabbed Marshall and explained, "We have to be on different teams because we're both so good." I guess, if nothing else, playing in the preschool division gave him a solid dose of confidence.

There was only one Saturday where his enthusiasm waned. He was recovering from a cold, and the day was miserably cold and rainy. After the first ten minutes, Graham was done. He'd occasionally muster up the motivation to run after the ball briefly, but mostly he was grumpy and wanted it all to be over. 

I was watching from the sidelines with an umbrella and wrapped up in a blanket. Even then, I couldn't say I disagreed with his opinion. Now that the season is over, he regularly reminds me, "I really loved playing soccer. When can I play again?"

Bryce and Thane both had new coaches this season. Bryce still played with primarily the same boys he's been playing with the last few years, but Thane had a whole new group. Thane's coach is great at keeping the boys focused and teaching them legitimate game skills. That focus was majorly tested during their first few weeks of games with all the construction going on right behind them.

Thane learned a lot and progressed as a player. He says playing soccer was a lot of fun.

As a result of scheduling and dividing and conquering, Mark ended up attending most of Thane's games. One game, however, I did attend and thought, "I should record him playing." I pulled out my phone, and happened to catch him making a goal assist! It was his only assist of the season, so I'll call that fortuitous timing.

Thane is Thane, and steadfastly refuses to participate in the post-game parent tunnel. He's not upset about it, it's just not his thing.

Bryce's team was a lot of fun to watch play. They are a competitive crew and work really well together. Bryce has improved tremendously and loves getting out of the soccer field for games or practices.

His coach worked hard to get Bryce to show "fire" and be more aggressive. Bryce's more natural state is to be smiling and laughing while playing. I'm so glad he's still loving the game!

Fall in Washington is super unpredictable with weather. For some games we had beautiful, sunny, warm weather.

Other games we froze.

Our schedule is much more free now that the boys are done with soccer... until Spring!