Soccer

I will admit, when I signed Allison up for soccer a year ago, I had no idea what I was getting into. I put her in a preschool class and she got to run around an indoor arena and just get used to the idea of kicking a ball. It was cute, she had fun...whatever. Well, they wanted us to sign up for the pre-k spring season and I thought, "what the hey." 

Turns out what I was signing her up for was the Blue Valley Rec Soccer Club. Ummm...it's out of control! They have 6 games in the spring and everyone...well it seems like everyone...has their little kid play soccer. I have never seen so many little girls and boys running around in shin guards and soccer jerseys. It's adorable!

The first game I got to see was a few weeks ago. Jason had taken her to her first 2 games, so by the third, I was anxious to watch. My mom and dad were able to come. It was a cold day, but so great.

They start with a little 10 minute practice/warm up. The have them do drills and practice their ball handling. She got pretty good at kicking the ball up to herself. Only kicked herself in the face once or twice!

After practice is a 35 minute game that is non-stop. There are 14 girls and they divide them into 7 and 7. Each game is mixed so that the girls always play with someone new. Then those 7 girls split into 3 and 4 and play a team 3 on 3. Of the 4 that watch, 3 then sub in and the 4th gets the next rotation. It's difficult to explain, but this way, no same 3 girls are playing together. It forces them to get to know others and prevents any ball-hogging issues.

This game, Allison did great! She scored 1 goal, and was pretty aggressive. She really got after the ball and seemed pretty quick. There were several times that she got in the middle of things and popped out with the ball scooting down field.

The coach hangs out in the middle of the field and helps control the flow of things. Really he makes sure they are headed to the right goal, watches for out of bounds balls and helps direct traffic. The two coaches are very cool guys.

Allison's team won this game. She got the "dolphin of the match" patch. Their team is the dolphins, and after every game they hand out a patch to each girl. There are offensive, defensive, hustle and high scorer patches. It was fun to watch her play well and get the special patch.

The next two games she was rather indifferent. She still seemed to have a good time (which is very important), but didn't seem like she cared one way or the other. Not near as aggressive and just ran around a bit. That's ok - she's learning.

We anticipate that she'll enjoy at least one sport. It will be fun to see what she finally lands on. Jason has been teacher her some tennis and she has a pretty good swing. It's fun to watch your kids develop tastes and talents. It will be interesting to see where this heads. I just hope she decides (or reveals her talents) before too much money is spent...yikes!