Another soccer season has come and gone and I had my usual love/hate relationship with it the whole time. I love seeing my kids get out, be active, and have fun. I hate three days a week being dedicated to practices and games. Juggling little ones and dinner time around to get to games takes a lot of effort and is stressful. But overall I still think it's worth all the hassle to give them the experience of being part of a team and learning new things.
This was our first year experiencing girls' soccer. It was the greatest. Ten happy giggling girls running around the field kicking a ball. When someone fell down half the girls would stop to make sure they were okay before continuing to play. Brynn's team were the Blue Peacocks. Brynn was at a bit of an advantage the first game as she was clearly one of the only girls who had spent the last two years playing against her brother in the backyard. All the other girls were still trying to figure out what exactly they were supposed to be doing as Brynn ran up and down the field scoring goal after goal after goal. By the next game more girls were getting the hang of it and Brynn had to work a little harder for her goals for the rest of the season. I could watch Brynn run around with a huge grin on her face all day long. After Brynn's game we would leave the world of smiling, giggling girls and would enter the world of crazy and aggressive boys.
This year Mason moved up to the 8 and under division. It's a whole new ball game with these big boys. They're bigger, faster, and much more aggressive. Most of the time Mason was the youngest one out there but he hung in there and was able to get a few goals during the season. The team never could quite decide what their team name should be so sometimes they were the Green Gators and other times they were the Green Hulks.
Miles would come to the games and bring his own soccer ball to kick around. He loved running out on the field and kicking goals during water breaks, but loved doing it in the middle of the game even more. We definitely got our workout keeping up with him during the games. I think we're going to have to lie about his age or something because there is no way he is going to wait around for 3 more years to play soccer.
We've put away our cleats and shin guard until soccer starts again in the spring. Now to decide what to do for the next 6 months.
