Soccer Season!

Last May, my boys begged me to let them play soccer this year. I don't typically encourage my kids to play on sports teams -- I really don't like the added burden to our schedule. But, if it is something they really want to do, I'll support them. So, we signed up for AYSO soccer!

When we started in August, I was so unprepared for what I had gotten myself into! We had practices Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons. Then there were two games on Saturdays, sometimes as early as 8 am! Nuts. We experienced one of the hottest summers ever, even for Hemet. The heat has continued all the way through Halloween. Our first game was in September. Never having participated in soccer before, I did not know what to expect. Well -- luckily I had brought my own chairs, because there were none. Worse, there was no shade! I sat in 105 degree heat through Gavin's game. Then, I lost my car keys and spent an hour before Josie, my dear friend, brought me a spare set from Rom. I had just enough time to return home and pick up Gabe for his game. When I got home, I crashed from all the activity -- went straight to bed and was useless for the rest of the day! And I bought an umbrella for the next week.

And yet -- it was so much fun! Gavin had never played soccer before. He plays with so much zest and pizzazz! He dances like a butterfly all over the field. He loves practice, so he has picked up a lot of skills in a short period of time. Yesterday, he played goalie for only the second time ever. The other team was way better than us. They spent most of the quarter shooting goals -- and Gavin saved all but one of them! That was better than the rest of our goalies during the other quarters. He must have made like 10 saves. One time, his shoelace was untied, and he was trying to tie it when the ball came to him. He jumped up, made the save, kicked it downfield, and went back too tying his shoe. Too cute!

Gabe has never officially played soccer, but he has played a lot at school. He is a wild man! He's the smallest guy on the team, but he has no fear. He gets right in there and makes his plays. He's awesome at passing. He has excellent field awareness -- he does an awesome job staying in position, following the direction of the ball, and being in the right place at the right time. He's probably a little better on defense than offense, because he's not afraid to engage. He is so funny! He told me before a game a few weeks ago, "Mom, I bet if I play really hard today, I'll get player of the game." I reminded him to just do his best, and we'll see. I didn't want him to get his hopes up too much and be disappointed. Shouldn't have worried -- he played awesome, and he got the player of the game!

I couldn't make it through the season without Rom. He's so wonderful! He gets up early and goes to the 8:00 games for me. That means that he no longer has a day that he gets to sleep in for an hour or so, and that's killing him -- but he's loving it! The boys love having their dad watch them play. In fact, Gabe made his first goal with Rom there. He told me that Dad's encouragement made him play harder and stick with it when he was starting to get tired, and that's when he made the goal. I was sad I had missed it, but I was excited for him.

Here's a little video of the boys. Sorry the quality is so poor. I wonder if there's a way to focus manually instead of automatically? I'll have to play with it.