Soccer

I have finally grown my own soccer team!

This fall, I signed up all 5 children to play Upward Soccer.  The league was perfect for us.  Upward is a developmental sports program, with an emphasis on good sportsmanship, so there was no pressure to win.  The fields and teams were smaller than a typical soccer program.  That made it possible for the league to run 6 fields of games at the exact same time.  It was wonderful.  The kids and I would go to the field every Saturday morning, for an hour of practice and an hour of games.  

My 5 kids were on 3 different teams.  Jersey #1 and Jersey #2 were on the same team.  Jersey #3 was on a team on his own.  Jersey #4 and Jersey #5 were on the same team, and I was their coach.  Everyone had the same uniforms, reversible red and black.  

All of the kids seemed to enjoy playing soccer.  It was a fun family activity.  Jersey #3 appears to be a natural athlete, so he picked up the sport right away and usually scored goals every game.  Jersey #1 enjoys soccer and has played a few years before.  She had a blast, and often scored a goal.  There was one game where Jersey #2 scored a goal for her team.  It was her first goal, and she was thrilled.  The last time she played soccer, we did not realize her heart was on a downward trend, and she did not enjoy running around at all.  I am glad she enjoyed this soccer season.  She has even asked to play again next year.

Jersey #4 and Jersey #5 thought soccer was fun enough.  They are not kids who run around just for the sake of running, so they complained about having to run back and forth along the field so much.  Jersey #5 wanted a snack after every quarter, and cheered when it was his turn to sit out.  Jersey #4 was pretty tough for such a petite thing.  She would take the ball away from the opposing team, and kick it.  Then, she would stop and check to make sure I saw her kick the ball.  Most of the time, this meant that she missed the next couple plays.  

From the moment I signed up all 5 kids for soccer, I knew I wanted to make our family photo a soccer team theme this year.  I waited anxiously to see what color the uniforms were.  Black and red worked great, because The Referee prefers to wear black.  I pictured the kids in uniforms, girls in red and boys in black, with me in a red shirt and The Referee in a black shirt.  I was so excited.  Unfortunately, The Referee refused to take a family photo with us this year, so my plans were ruined.  I was really disappointed about that.  I did get some great photos of me and the kids though.  I suppose that is a more accurate representation of our family this year anyway.

My sister took our family picture, and took a few different fun poses, including the kids hanging from the goal posts.  

I did learn that outdoors in the sunlight is not a good place to attempt a circle of heads photo...

I enjoyed playing soccer as a kid.  So, it was fun for me to get to see all of my children enjoying a season of soccer too.

Go Team Go!