Grace Soccer

Grace's soccer team, The Cheetahs, (with assistant Coach Craig) had an outstanding season this year. They are passing better, playing position, anticipating, talking to each other during the game, and working well as a team. Grace does well in the front line but is really known for playing Sweeper. She is called the teams Super Sweeper. She has incredible speed which she uses to her full advantage and really is good at finding a way to get the ball to her teammates. It is fun to watch this team play. The girls tied for first place in their division. They then went on to a state tournament in Berea where they placed first place in their age group. Grace played in the first weekend of the tournament and then had the tough decision whether to play the second weekend or be in a horse show. She chose the tournament (after a lot of pressure from her teammates to play) and is glad she did. They earned a GIANT team trophy and where in the newspaper. Grace was given the honor of having the trophy first.







Text from newspaper:

Cheetah girls rule On November 8, 2008 the Lexington Youth Soccer Association (LYSA) 10-year-old girls Cheetah soccer team defeated the Louisville Okolona Lightning 2—1 to win the state Commonwealth Soccer Tournament in Richmond. Pictured in the front row from left are Jessica Daniel, Mallory Baker and Grace Kelly. Second row from left: Phoebe Clardy, Amanda Moore, Sydney Strup, Kate Johnson, Macy Baker and Julia Beard. Third row: Coaches Stuart Daniel, left, and Craig Kelly.

Lexington-Herald Leader November 26, 2008

Memorial Day Weekend

We tried to make Memorial Day weekend a weekend balanced between fun and work but it was primarily about soccer. We had five games over three days – spread out all over the place. As you can see from the team photos, Craig not only is the assistant coach for Grace’s team but this season he was also the assistant for Rachael’s team. Craig says it was more like herding cats rather than coaching, but he helped.






Rachael is #4 in green.

This is my favorite - it really shows how they play "soccer" at four years of age. What you can't tell is Rachael's tongue is out - Newman gene.

Hannah is #9 in blue.

Grace is #10 in purple.

After the games on Saturday we decided on the spur of the moment to go see a Legend’s baseball game (our minor league team.) That morning I had seen in the newspaper that the game was at home and there would be fireworks at the end of the game. Soccer games on Saturday were at 1:30, 3:00 and 5:00. The baseball game started at 7:00 and the soccer fields were on the same side of town as the baseball field. Hannah loves fireworks so we decided after Grace’s game to go see the Legends. The girls were dirty but not old enough to care. There really isn’t a bad seat at this facility so last minute tickets were still good. We had a great time. All I had with me at the baseball game was my camera phone. Hannah insisted I take pictures of the fireworks. I have included a few even though they aren’t very good. On Sunday we had two more soccer games and on Monday the entire family cleaned the garage. I should have taken pictures of the girls working – especially Rachael sweeping the floor. Now it is the most organized room in the house. So far the girls are mostly keeping it up – hopefully my theory of, “if you have a stake in it you will take better care of it,” is working. If only I could get that theory to work in their bedrooms!

The girls enjoyed the silly sprinkler over the weekend. I can't explain the goggles.

Ted E. Bear and the University of Kentucky Women’s Basketball

On January 25 Hannah came home from school with a small suitcase full of doll sized clothes and a journal as well as a stuffed bear named Ted E. Bear.

Hannah informed us that this was the class bear and everyone took turns taking Teddy home. During the time he was home, the child was instructed to write about what Teddy did in his journal. We didn’t want Teddy to be bored so we planned a fun weekend for him.

On Saturday we took Teddy to Hannah’s in-door soccer game on Saturday. She is in a league with teams comprised of all boys. This was the first game against a boy’s team and it wasn’t pretty. To Hannah’s credit she did not let the boy’s intimidate her and even when the rest of her team gave up and stopped trying Hannah put forth 100% effort and hustled until the last second of the game. Teddy had a good seat at the game and chose to wear and ensemble that included a Mickey Mouse baseball hat.

On January 27^th the University of Kentucky Women’s Basketball team played LSU at Rupp Arena. They had tickets for $1 each so we thought it was a great opportunity to take the girls and entertain our guest. In fact due to age Rachael and Teddy were free! We also let Grace invite her friend Shelby. Although the game was hard to watch as a UK fan, it was a fun outing. (Final score LSU 72 UK 46.) The highlight of the game was the opening introduction of the payers. We were surprised to have indoor fireworks! The couple sitting next to me at the game found the addition of Teddy amusing and they made every attempt to get Teddy on camera. Unfortunately they were not successful. I think Teddy is a little camera shy so he was fine not to be seen on the big screen. Overall I think the class bear had a good weekend with the Kelly family.

The below pictures were taken by my camera phone. Not the best but not bad.

Halloween/Soccer Pictures

September 8, 2007 Fall Soccer Starts

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!