Soccer, Soccer, Soccer

Well this week began our soccer games. We had our first practice on Tuesday and I'll just say that it was pretty interesting. Since I had never done this before, I wasn't sure what to practice, how serious to be about it, etc. Most of the boys I had already met, but it was fun getting to know them a little better and playing around. I will say that trying to get seven 6 year olds to do what you want, when you want them to do it, is not an easy task... AT ALL. We had fun, but I was exhausted by the end of it.

Yesterday was our very first game. We had totally forgotten to come up with a team name. So out of the field, seconds before the game started, we came up with The Red Tigers. I don't know if that is totally official. We'll probably make sure all the boys are okay with that the next time we meet. We played The Blue Missiles, and I could tell their coach had coached before and knew exactly what he was doing. We had a hard time getting going, but once we were a little warmed up we got better. We only scored 2 goals... the other team won (with I don't know how many goals). But we all had a great time and by the end I kinda knew what I was doing. I sure got some great exercise out of it. I think one of the hardest things to do as a coach is to make sure all the kids get equal playing time. I'd get into the game and totally forget to change it up. I feel so bad when I finally realize it and I hope the kids and parents will forgive me. Anyway, it was an eventful first week. I'm looking forward to improving both my skills and the boys skills and maybe we'll win a game. If not, it's totally cool... but it would be nice :)


From left: Evan, Michael, Josh, Jonathan, Alex, Gunner (in front), Joe

I didn't realize until I had them all looking at me that they were looking directly into the sun. Oh well, makes for an entertaining picture!