Soccer

Every year, one of our first family nights after New Years involves writing down our goals for the year.  This year one of Reggie's goals was to play soccer.  The spring season started right when Colby was born, so we decided to skip that one (along with swimming lessons) and wait until things calmed down in our lives. 

I think it's safe to say that we have three kids now under control, so in June we signed Reg up for his first season of soccer.  He was beyond excited.  Before his first practice we went and got him teeny-tiny cleats (he has little feet for a four year old), shin guards, and a ball.  He loved all his gear.  In fact, his ball went everywhere with him for the first little bit--even to bed.  And yes, I had flashbacks to Tom Hanks and Wilson.  I hated that movie.

His team name is the Wildcats, and he super loves his uniform.  He wears it on game day (every Saturday until the second week of November) and at least one other time during the week.  And much to his father's embarrassment, he loves that he's the Wildcats because Troy and Gabriella from High School Musical are Wildcats.  :)

Then came the day of the first game.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Yeah, the last picture most accurately depicts how the first game went.  He was sobbing.  And sobbing.  And sobbing.  In his defense, it was hotter than Hades, and the team they were playing were leagues above them in skill and age and he knew it.  It was pretty frustrating to him.  So after that first game we made a few goals regarding game day.  Number one, have fun.  Number two, play your best.  And number three, no crying.

So far, five weeks in, he's done a pretty good job meeting all three goals.  He still gets a little emotional if he gets pushed or has a big fall, but he's able to get over it and get back in there.  He's also pretty timid.  He doesn't like getting in people's space to take the ball.  Brandon says he gets that from me.  After the second game, we added a fourth goal--try to score. 

And thankfully, yesterday he did.  Three times.  He was the top scorer on his team and in the game.  It helped that the other team was relatively young (like our team) and had a good number of disinterested members.  Two little boys on the other team ended up hugging each other for a good amount of time each time they were on the field.  Another little boy kept trying to sit on the ball if it came near him instead of kicking it.  So miracle of miracles, our little Wildcats won.

But after every goal, Reggie had this strange look on his face--almost like he was trying not to cry.  Later I asked him if he was proud of himself for how he played, and he said "Yes, but I almost cried."  I told him we had noticed that and were wondering why he wanted to cry after his goals.  He said, "Because I was so happy." 

Hilarious.

Go Wildcats!