A Star is Born

It has been WAAAAAY too long since my last post, I'm soooooo sorry! I guess I have to blame it on the summer since it's finally here (lame excuse, I know). But I am VERY excited about summer being here: school ended on May 21 in Anchorage, summer sports have started, and the weather has been B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!! I just hope it stays this way...although, I guess we can't complain. So far this year's Spring has been better than last year's Summer (ugh!).

So speaking of Summer sports, Erica started soccer two weeks ago. She's never played before, other than kicking a ball in our back yard. She's in an under 6 league. The teams are made up of 6 players. Her team has (1) 4-yr old and (5) 5-yr olds. They practice for half an hour and then play a game against another team for half an hour. When they play, it's 3-on-3 with no goalies...and they play on teenie, tiny fields...they're soooo cute! So Erica learned how to control the ball (sort of) and then they did drills to try and get the ball from the coach, and then keep the ball away from the coach. When the practice was over, the teams started a game. At first, Erica just stood there until Jeff yelled, "go after the ball, Erica!" And did she ever!!! When she got the ball, she kept it and made a goal...woo hoo!!! The best part was both teams kept kicking the ball in the same direction WAAAAAY past the goal (there are no nets, just markings in the grass). All the parents had to chase after them and one finally grabbed the ball to stop them. It was hilarious! Then they repeated that drill...with the same result: Erica scored a goal. They took a break here and there and again, repeated the drill...with the same result. Erica's team ended up scoring FOUR goals...ALL of which were from Erica. I kept trying to tell her to kick the ball to one of her team mates, but she never did. That's either the "only child" in her, being selfish or it's just that she's a 5-year old and that's what they do...I don't have any experience with this to know for sure. At any rate, she LOOOOVES soccer and can't wait for next week....and Jeff is already talking about scholarship opportunities (he's such a dad!).

I didn't download the pix from the first practice, but I did from today's practice/game...and we have uniforms. The kids are having a blast, and so is the coach ;-) Are you seeing a theme with the player in the middle of it all...all the time?!?




And of course they end with goods sportsmanship by shaking everyone's hands!!!