Soccer

We signed Eli up for Soccer at the YMCA (indoor) to see if he likes it. He plays on a team with other kindergarteners and first graders.

Tim's parents took him to the first practice and said he did reasonably well for never having played before. I took him this past Saturday for his first games. There are three teams in his "league" and he played both of them. They have two ten minute halves.

They did a few drills before it was time to start the game. I'm not really sure what makes a coach want to coach first-timers, but I give them a lot of credit! They have more patience than me, that's for sure!

For the games, they rotated the kids in different positions, which is good and makes sense, however, it also becomes confusing for them. When one boy was playing goalie, he forgot he was allowed to touch the ball with his hands. I mean, they're only 5 or 6, that's a lot to remember.

When the first game started Eli just stood there and waited for the ball to come directly to him, he didn't run after it at all. So I had to start yelling and cheering so he would know what to do. All the other parents were tyring to help their kids too, so it wasn't just me yelling. I was impressed by how supportive all the parents were to all the kids. It was a so much fun! At halftime of the second game, he told me to stop yelling "Go Eli!" to him. Which just made me laugh.

Unfortunately, he lost both of his games. In his team's defense they should have 8 players and only 6 showed up, then one of those just sat on the sidelines and wouldn't play (or would pick up the ball and carry it), so they were playing with 4 players and a goalie which did put them at a little disadvantage.

Eli didn't seem to care they lost. On the way out to the car he said that the green team was the best, that's why they got the green shirts. The green shirts are the greatest! He's on the green team obviously.

However, Eli got a 24 hour virus that started Sunday afternoon and we think he picked it up from the drinking fountain at the Y, so we are going to take our own water bottle and hand sanitizer next week! Now he's missed his first day of school ever, but he's on the mend and went back to school on Tuesday. No worse for the wear except maybe for Mom and the laundry room getting an extra workout!