For the first time all three girls are playing soccer. It is a challenge to juggle practices and games but as long as they want to play we will make it work. I guess I have become the stereotypical soccer mom – mini-van and everything.
This season we do not to have three games all at the same time – phew! We have several days with two games at the same time but not three. Craig once again is the assistant coach for Grace. She has moved up to a U-10 team – under ten – which translates to 8 and 9 year olds. Her team is now purple and although they were assigned the name the Angels they requested and were granted a name change to the Cheetahs, the name of her old team. With a move up comes a bigger field. In addition they now field 8 players rather than 7. Grace has grown as a player and in the first game showed she can keep-up with the older players. One of the 9 year olds who had played with Grace a year ago commented to Craig how much Grace has improved. Although she can play forward well she has found she likes defense. Grace’s team won 6-2 in their first game with Grace chalking up an assist.
Hannah has had what I would call 2 false starts with respect to soccer. The first time we signed her up I took her to the first practice and she planted herself on the side of the field and refused to budge. That was the end of that season. The second time we signed her up for the local YMCA league which is lower key than LYSA (Lexington Youth Soccer Association.) She was assigned to a team with young high school girls as coaches. She learned a team cheer but nothing else. She didn’t play much and had no idea what she was doing. No real instruction occurred. Looks like third time is the charm. Hannah is on Grace’s old Cheetah team - a U-8 team made up of 6 and 7 year olds. Their uniform is University of Kentucky Wildcat Blue. The coaches are both parents we know and like and they have been great for Hannah; helping her learn but always backing up their instruction with a positive comment about what she did right. The other players on her team have each played at least a couple of years so Hannah is a little behind but she is trying. The first game Hannah went after the ball, instinctively knew where she should be most of the time and contributed to the team’s tie of 1-1. She is a natural athlete and if she decides to stick with this sport she will be good in a short amount of time.
Rachael is playing on a U-5 team, i.e. 4 year olds. Although Grace and Hannah are playing on girls only teams, at this age the only option is mixed gender. Until the first game Rachael was the only girl on the team. She thought that was cool and was hanging in during practice. We did have to teach her not to pick flowers during practice. In addition we are working on, “your tough brush it off,” when she gets hurt rather than stopping in the middle of the field yelling, “He hit me! “or “Someone hit me from behind and I didn’t see who it was!” (Presumably she was upset because she didn’t know who to tell on or maybe who to hit back?) At the first game several new players arrived, all girls. Rachael’s team is the Power Rangers and she wears Forest Green. It is funny to watch kid’s soccer games at this age. They have a very small field and field only five players per team. There is no goalie, score keeping or referees. The coaches act as referees and they stay on the field instructing and corralling the kids the entire time. It is sort of like herding cats (or Dan and Nicki’s chickens.) The assistant coach’s son likes to hang on the goal post rather than play and if a kid doesn’t want to play any more they walk off the field to mom. Tying shoes takes up a lot of time as does setting up for kick offs, corner kicks, etc. For some reason the ball ends up out of bounds often – very often. By the end of the season they should all be great at throw-ins. They have no concept of position and just run after the ball in a pack. Sometimes you have no idea who is on the field. Rachael’s first game she kicked a great goal kick, threw several great throw-ins and scored a goal! The first goal that was scored by her team made her mad because she wasn’t the one to do it. We are working on explaining the team sport concept and that we will be proud of her if she plays well, that she never has to score a goal, but that doesn’t fit well with Rachael’s personality. She had a great dance after her goal and ran off the field straight to Mom and Dad asking where was Grace and Hannah?! For a second she was mad. Grace and Hannah had front row seats from Nana and Papa’s van. Once we pointed out her sisters hanging out the window screaming for her she was better. I guess Craig and I are chopped liver. I thought that didn’t happen until they were older! Attached is a picture of Rachael’s goal. Not pretty but she got the job done - with her left foot!
This season we do not to have three games all at the same time – phew! We have several days with two games at the same time but not three. Craig once again is the assistant coach for Grace. She has moved up to a U-10 team – under ten – which translates to 8 and 9 year olds. Her team is now purple and although they were assigned the name the Angels they requested and were granted a name change to the Cheetahs, the name of her old team. With a move up comes a bigger field. In addition they now field 8 players rather than 7. Grace has grown as a player and in the first game showed she can keep-up with the older players. One of the 9 year olds who had played with Grace a year ago commented to Craig how much Grace has improved. Although she can play forward well she has found she likes defense. Grace’s team won 6-2 in their first game with Grace chalking up an assist.
Hannah has had what I would call 2 false starts with respect to soccer. The first time we signed her up I took her to the first practice and she planted herself on the side of the field and refused to budge. That was the end of that season. The second time we signed her up for the local YMCA league which is lower key than LYSA (Lexington Youth Soccer Association.) She was assigned to a team with young high school girls as coaches. She learned a team cheer but nothing else. She didn’t play much and had no idea what she was doing. No real instruction occurred. Looks like third time is the charm. Hannah is on Grace’s old Cheetah team - a U-8 team made up of 6 and 7 year olds. Their uniform is University of Kentucky Wildcat Blue. The coaches are both parents we know and like and they have been great for Hannah; helping her learn but always backing up their instruction with a positive comment about what she did right. The other players on her team have each played at least a couple of years so Hannah is a little behind but she is trying. The first game Hannah went after the ball, instinctively knew where she should be most of the time and contributed to the team’s tie of 1-1. She is a natural athlete and if she decides to stick with this sport she will be good in a short amount of time.
Rachael is playing on a U-5 team, i.e. 4 year olds. Although Grace and Hannah are playing on girls only teams, at this age the only option is mixed gender. Until the first game Rachael was the only girl on the team. She thought that was cool and was hanging in during practice. We did have to teach her not to pick flowers during practice. In addition we are working on, “your tough brush it off,” when she gets hurt rather than stopping in the middle of the field yelling, “He hit me! “or “Someone hit me from behind and I didn’t see who it was!” (Presumably she was upset because she didn’t know who to tell on or maybe who to hit back?) At the first game several new players arrived, all girls. Rachael’s team is the Power Rangers and she wears Forest Green. It is funny to watch kid’s soccer games at this age. They have a very small field and field only five players per team. There is no goalie, score keeping or referees. The coaches act as referees and they stay on the field instructing and corralling the kids the entire time. It is sort of like herding cats (or Dan and Nicki’s chickens.) The assistant coach’s son likes to hang on the goal post rather than play and if a kid doesn’t want to play any more they walk off the field to mom. Tying shoes takes up a lot of time as does setting up for kick offs, corner kicks, etc. For some reason the ball ends up out of bounds often – very often. By the end of the season they should all be great at throw-ins. They have no concept of position and just run after the ball in a pack. Sometimes you have no idea who is on the field. Rachael’s first game she kicked a great goal kick, threw several great throw-ins and scored a goal! The first goal that was scored by her team made her mad because she wasn’t the one to do it. We are working on explaining the team sport concept and that we will be proud of her if she plays well, that she never has to score a goal, but that doesn’t fit well with Rachael’s personality. She had a great dance after her goal and ran off the field straight to Mom and Dad asking where was Grace and Hannah?! For a second she was mad. Grace and Hannah had front row seats from Nana and Papa’s van. Once we pointed out her sisters hanging out the window screaming for her she was better. I guess Craig and I are chopped liver. I thought that didn’t happen until they were older! Attached is a picture of Rachael’s goal. Not pretty but she got the job done - with her left foot!
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