1st Soccer Practices

K in action!

Bubs on the ball.

Our little tough guy isn’t so tough at times. Wednesday night (8/6) Bubs had his first ever practice for an organized sport – Soccer. It was a clinic for Under 6 & 7 year olds. He made the cut off by a few days so he’s probably one of the youngest guys out there. It was a clinic so there were probably 50+ kids & some coaches out there. They divided the boys up into smaller groups close to their ages, but it was still very overwhelming.

Here's a picture of him on the field. Daydreaming? Trying to figure out what he's supposed to be doing. There is the freeway off in the distance, maybe he was mesmerized by the cars racing by. It was frustrating to watch. The boy who is so full of energy at home. Running around the house at a hundred miles a minute, comes to the sidelines after 3 minutes of being on the field. "I'm thirsty." Here's some water, now get back out there & go after the ball. And so he goes. Until he runs, trips and falls down. Stands up & starts bawling in the middle of the field. Of course, the 4 & 5 year olds keep playing around him & Daddy tells me to let him be, he'll be ok. The coach on the field comes to his aid & I feel like the mean parent. (meanwhile, the pack of kids around the ball end up in another direction all on the baseball field!) We take him off the field, he wants more water & then convince him to go back out there. More tears come. "Nobody will give me the ball" Of course not! No kid at that age really passes do they? And then the next complaint "My sides hurt" I think he might have had cramps from all the water he drank. So he didn't want to run around anymore & wanted to stand by the goalie. He doesn't quite get it that there is only one goalie on each team. The little goalies told him that he had to go out after the ball - and once again, bubs had more tears. I've never seen him sob & cry so much. It broke my heart & only frustrated daddy. I had to remind daddy that he's young. Hopefully we will look back at these moments in a couple months and see how he's grown & learned more about the sport. I just hope & pray that we have not traumatized him to the point that he doesn't want to get back out on the field. Once practice begins with a smaller group of kids, hopefully he'll be more comfortable.

On the other hand, K went out the next day, Thursday, & met her team of 12 girls in the Under 7 group. This was also her first time playing soccer & surprisingly, she seemed to enjoy it. She's learning & trying all the skills. P & I were really proud of her. We had also tried to pump her up to show Bubs how much fun soccer can be. They are the Precious Gems. How fitting is that for our little princess. I had to borrow some big shorts from Bubs for her to practice in. I wasn't sure it was appropriate to go out on the field in skorts. I'm sure there will be more exciting info to come. Stay tuned!