Soccer!

You might remember that the girls played some indoor/outdoor soccer last fall, coached by our amazing pastor.  They really liked it, so I registered them for soccer through Four Valleys Community School in Girdwood.  We played t-ball through Four Valleys last year and the girls were on the same team, but this year for soccer they are on two different teams.  Last year they were terrified of being apart for this new adventure, this year they were delighted at the prospect of being on their own!  It works out very well actually.  They practice on Tuesdays and then play games on Thursdays.  It's a small town and there are two teams for each age group, so you pretty much play the same game over and over, but they're kids!  Their practices and games are at back to back times, so it's a pretty smooth day.

We went a little early yesterday to watch our little buddy Austin practice. Nothing like a couple of friends to encourage a reticent five year old to hit the field with a smile!  Stacy was up next, practicing from 11am-noon.




Stacy's coach is a gal we know from the AWCC.  Her family lives there and operates the facility.  Her daughter is Stacy's age and her son is Austin's age.  She's very nice and Stacy felt right at home right away.

Next up was Kelsey's practice from noon-1pm.  She was more than ready to hit the field after watching both Austin and Stacy practice.



 
Luckily Kelsey is super flexible, so that pose did not actually require the trip to the hospital you might be imagining!  Apparently Kelsey's age is where soccer gets a bit more serious because they started talking positions and strategy.  Kelsey's coach is a man I don't know, but I hear he's an awesome coach.  I was very impressed when he stopped the whole practice to talk to them about how to handle it when you knock someone over.  Soccer is a rough sport, I know, but when one kiddo body-checked another at full speed the coach stopped them and talked to them about apologizing and helping the other person up.  I appreciate the focus on sportsmanship.  Stacy's team also had a talk about what it means to show good sportsmanship.  In this competitive world, it is so good to hear adults talking with kids about how to be good human beings!

After all that soccer we went to the park for a bit, then headed home.  We finished up the late afternoon playing outside at our playground here in Whittier.  An amazing sunny day!!


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