Soccer

Kindergarten has brought on A LOT more activities for us!  We hadn't quite graduated from TK when we were approached by a parent in Sam's class who would be coaching her daughter in AYSO in the fall and hoped Samantha would be up for joining her team. Prior to that, I hadn't even thought about putting Samantha in soccer nor had she asked to play.

Fast forward to fall and we are knee deep in team practices and Saturdays spent on the soccer field. I'm officially a soccer mom and similar to how I resisted being a flamenco-mama, my resistance has turned into wanting more!  I LOVE soccer!  I love watching Samantha play a team sport and the emphasis is on the word SPORT.  I never played sports growing up and it's fun to see Samantha in this setting. 

The first team practice also coincided with the first day of school.  It was a busy day of firsts!

Her team is made up of half Peabody kids and half Mount Carmel kids. 

I love seeing the girls running and running and running.  The girls leave practice all sweaty and red-faced, Samantha is WIPED out by the time we get in the car after already having been at a full day of school.  Somedays she falls asleep on the short ride home. 

Her first practice was spent learning how to do a pull-back.

Randomly most of the girls wore pink that day ;)

Soon Thatcher, SOON, it will be your turn to play sports and not just accompany your sister everywhere. 

Practice two was spent learning more about how to play soccer. Our first game would be that Saturday and most of the girls on our team have never played before.  

Team uniforms passed out! The girls were so excited about the color they got.  

We really lucked out with Coach Jules.  She is a phenomenal coach!  She is so positive with the girls and has a way of keeping things fun while teaching the girls the game.  Each week she makes sure to touch on a new skill and they make sure to practice and introduce it on the field at each game.  So far it has been pull-backs, passing and a favorite one to watch and listen to her teach was being aggressive.  Last week's game skill was "secret plays" which are technically normal skills that you would do when playing soccer but calling it "secret" made the girls excited to test them out. 

Hanging with Coach Jules' daughter, Charlotte.  

#6! 

Ready for her first game with the world's largest soccer uniforms for 5-year-olds.  Her shorts are folded over 3 times and we drawstring tied them as best we could but have already had some instances where her shorts fell to her ankles mid-game.  

The girls came up with a fancy team name and as Team Parents, Todd and I were in charge of designing the banner. I should say Todd designed it not me ;)

A little pep talk before the first game. 

Game 1 against the Green Dolphins (I think that was their name?) 

Half-time snack is quite popular ;)

The tunnel at the end of the game is probably the second highlight to the snacks. 

1st game finished and this girl surprised us with scoring four goals!  We've got an offensive player on our hands.  They don't technically keep score for U5 soccer but what parent isn't keeping score? We won ;)



Practicing at UCSB with the Gaucho women's soccer team

Game 2 against the Killer Ladybugs

Sam scored 2 or 3 goals at this game.  I think one of them was a shared goal because the entire team kicked the ball in the goal. They are still working on spreading out on the field.  Coach Jules will yell, "No tea parties, no tea parties!" And then they all scramble away from each other. 

Rainbow Shark themed snacks after another win (shhhhhhh! not keeping score) ;)

And our third game was against the Royal Blue Somethings (can't remember) ;0  Despite the smiles, Samantha got an upset tummy half-way through the game and sat out most of it.  So we had an upset stomach and our first upset as far as losing a game but hey, it's fun to fun, right? ;)

Game four against the Pink Roses or some cute name like that.  We only had four girls able to make it so we were short a player on the field but they actually did better with less girls.  Playing 4 on 5 worked to our advantage ;)

Papa Ward and Dancing Grandma got front row seats to see Samantha score some goals and another Rainbow Shark victory!

This past Sunday the Rainbow Sharks got to play during half-time at the women's UCSB vs. Denver game. 

Pre-game practice/fun.

Only four Rainbow Sharks could make it so Coach Jules recruited some friends for a little 3 on 3. 

Look at that sweaty, red-faced girl!

So proud of you Sammy and how great you are doing! 

Here's a little video of the 3 on 3 at UCSB from Sunday.  The girls were sprinting and falling all over the place.  I think they played for 5 minutes running back and forth so many times on the small field they made that I think they were more tired out playing here than at the regular games.  Samantha still left the field with a smile and wanting more, she's hooked!