Soccer

Well, I finally got some photos of a soccer game. They are not very close up, because I refuse to be one of the MANIAC parents who paces up and down the field with the kids and yells at them the whole time. SERIOUSLY--there are people on the field called coaches! They volunteered--get the hell out of their way. If you want to be in charge, sign up to coach a team. Some parents (one of whom shall remain nameless but lives in the same house as me, and is not me) seem to want to give their kid all kinds of instruction the day of the game, and yet, never take a random evening after dinner to kick the ball around and go over some drills. . .hmmmm. . .I think that practice time and game day are the coach's time. Parents should stay in their little fold out lawn chairs and limit their comments to things like "Good job, Johnny! Way to go!" Nobody cares what I think. . .
Anyway--They have great coaches. They strike just the right balance of emphasizing learning skills and remembering that they are still little kids that don't need to be harped on like professionals. I really like them. All of the kids on the team are improving each week, and I think it is because the coaches make the game fun and exciting and they want to do better each game.
N. is getting really good. He has always been good at defense, but he was a little timid on offense. He would wait for them ball to come to him, and he would just kick it away--like he didn't want the responsibility of handling it. Now, he will go after the ball anytime. He has also gotten good at maneuvering himself to an open position so his teammates can pass to him.
He's great at goalie. S. was pretty excited when N. decided he wanted to play goalie. He had never pushed him to play goalie. I don't think he ever even mentioned it, except in conversation that included all of the positions. He didn't want N. to choose something just because he liked it. But, when he decided to try out for goalie, S. was pretty happy. And then when he turned out to be good at it, S. was really happy! He is not scared to jump on the ball--even with all those kids feet flying at him. Of course, it makes me very nervous. Not that he will get hurt, but that the ball will get passed him and he will be crushed that they scored on him! He has been scored on once, but he has saved dozens of shots!
Today was a really good game. They played really hard and worked well together as a team. They didn't win, but I don't think they really noticed that much. Their coach does a great job of emphasizing to them how well they did and how they are improving, so they go away from the field feeling good about themselves. (And, of course, there are alway snacks--win or lose!)