U6 Soccer

Our children had their first soccer games of 2010 today. K plays on a girls team. The boys play together on a boys team. This morning was spent as most Saturdays will be this Fall, 3 hours at the fields!

The girls played first and K did really well. She is fast and scrappy. I loved seeing the grin on her face. Despite the heat, K never complained. She really enjoyed herself.
R could not handle sitting idly on the sidelines and appointed himself ball boy. A couple of times he just couldn't resist jumping in the action--and actually took it upon himself to get in the mix. (We had a little chat about that.)

P is not really a team sports guy. He likes comfortable, familiar environments. The hype and the action most sporting events involve are more than he cares to deal with. We continue to try to expose him to things, but his response remains consistently disinterested. Additionally, his allergies have been bothering him--and we had already been at the field for 90 minutes before his game was scheduled to begin. We really tried to encourage him to play. He turned on the tears and made it clear that it was not going to happen. We'll try again next week.Because the children are playing U6 (6 and under), they have the uncommon experience of not being the smallest on their teams. They are still not the biggest, but being in the upper middle range of the size is still a confidence inspiring experience. So much so, that I am having to work on their humility--not something that has been a problem for them in the past.
It seems to be a balancing act: celebrating their strengths/successes without overdoing it.
During practice this week R scored a few goals. I noticed that he celebrated by throwing his hands up straight over his head as he ran away from the goal--a move he had clearly picked up from watching the World Cup. After practice he asked me if I had seen his move.
"Yes, I did."
"I was gonna thwo my arms up AND slide acwoss the field on my knees, but I thought it might make da little kids feel bad," he said with great seriousness and concern.
"That was a good choice buddy." I replied.
"Yeah," he agreed, wrinkling his nose and squinting his eyes. "But Mom, how old DO I hafta be befo-wa I can slide acwoss da field like da big guys do it?"
We agreed that if he ever made it to the World Cup, he could slide all he wanted.
And because anything is possible when you are 6, the answer was quite satisfactory!