S: Soccer

If you can believe it, adding up the cumulative soccer seasons of five kids, we've been able to avoid 19 opportunities to be soccer slaves each Spring. Until now. Nicole and Corinne decided that they were missing out and asked to play this year. Oh, that's all fine and good. It's really not a problem getting them to practices and games. Outfitting them didn't even turn out to be as expensive as I thought it would be. And they really love playing. But then, the unthinkable happened. I called the coordinator to find out about Nicole's team, because games were starting soon and we hadn't heard anything.

Her reply: "Oh, yes. We haven't put that team together yet because they don't have a coach."

Big pause.

Me:"Ummm. Oh."

Big Pause.

Me: "Soooo. Um."

Big Pause.

Her: "Yeah. They don't have a COACH?"

Bigger Pause.

Me: "Do...you...want......(choke)...ummm....me?"

NO PAUSE!

Her: "Okay! Thanks! I'll get your roster to you this week. Sounds great. Bye!"

So, despite the fact that I've never played a minute of soccer outside of the 3 week unit in 9th grade P.E., and despite the fact that my kids have never played, so I've never even watched a minute of soccer; I've been given the reins. Who knew it was SO MUCH FUN??! I coach Nicole's team and I can't believe how totally into it I am. The kids are great and I'm learning a lot from them. Like, how many people play at a time, what a goal kick is, and what to do if the ball goes out of bounds. They are very patient. In return for their patience though, they get a coach who is very fair, understands that we're all here for fun, and is so competitive that at halftime she whispers cheap tricks they might want to try on the opposing team.

But enough about me. The girls are doing great and they have so much fun. Corinne's team works so well together. I went to her first game and was way impressed. She's got hustle! She's all over that ball and when she took her turn at goalie she had several stops and came away good and muddy. (It rained through the whole game.) She had her second game tonight (which Matt went to since Nicole's team played at the same time) and they are now 2-0.



Nicole's age group is co-ed and it's so fun to see them all play and have so much fun together. We only have 1-2 subs a game so she gets plenty of running in and does a great job! They are also 2-0 and tonight's game was against what I thought at first impression would be a really hard team, but it was never even close. She generously told her team before the game that if they won she'd buy them all a pop. I guess I should give her props for the good motivation! GOOAAALLLL!!