My Little Soccer Team

 Soccer has started in Searcy, and our house is now cluttered with dirty shingaurds and big, colorful, stinky socks.  So far, Grace, Emerson and Porter are loving their new sport, the highlight of their week being the snowcone they get after their games. As much as I disaprove of the extra laundry and trips back and forth to practices and games, I have to admit that the games are fun to watch.  I think in general, little kids playing any sport are fun to watch.

 

Let's take Grace for instance. It's her first time doing something as a team. Swimming was more of an individual sport, so she's now learning how to deal with other players with agendas of their own.

She's a little afraid of the ball.  It's ok Grace, we all understand it moves quickly. But when she wants too, Grace can run.



 

 

Emerson loooves soccer.  So much so that he has to run around the field during timeouts (and to my chagrin, even when the ball is in play) flapping his arms around like a bird.  Has anyone ever seen the movie Birdcage? Totally Nathan Lane.  Hopefully after a quick converstion about soccer being a "no hands sport" he now understands one of the reasons why that might not be the greatest of ways to show his excitement.

Porter is hil.arious.  He and his fellow teammates run around the field chasing the ball with no regard to anything, coaches, rules, or teamwork.  If anyone has ever watched four-year-olds play, they know exactly what I mean.  What keeps me in stitches about that kid though, is that he does all of it with this great big goofy grin.  He scores a goal for the other team, and grins right through it. He falls down, a lot, and just grins his way back up.  He's smiling when he goes out for a break, and smiles when the coach calls him back in. He's all high fives and good times all the way through.  Even when the "gator-egg" is all gone.

Yup, Saturday mornings are pretty awesome.