Soccer Season 2012

James participated in his first team sport this spring: soccer!  Neither Derek nor I know much about soccer.  Derek played as a little kid.  I like David Beckham's accent.  And ... well, we watched a few games (matches?) in Paris.  I think that about sums it up.  But we thought it would be fun for James to try out, so we signed him up at the local rec center for an indoor soccer team.  He is still only four (for a few more months, anyway), but we put him in the five- to six-year-old group since his future classmates would fit into that group.  And we figured it'd be lame to play with three-year-olds.  Needless to say, he was among the teenies.  And was significantly less coordinated and 'into' the game than many of the other kids.  Granted, this also could have been due to his uber-athletic genes (sarcasm).  Either way, he learned a few valuable lessons by playing, and if nothing else looked pretty adorable in his little outfit!

Love that boy.

One of the hardest things for me as a very on-top-of-things-mom (read: overprotective, hover mom, control freak... you choose) was to let my baby do this with only Daddy and Jolie and without me.  I started a new quarter at work on the very same day that he started soccer, and the practices/games were all on Tuesday and Thursday nights, which happen to be when I teach.  So Derek got to experience single parenting, and not just the sit-at-home-and-throw-on-a-movie type.  He was thrown in head first, really.  The games were all right at bedtime, too, which didn't make things easy.  Poor guy.  I think it was a long month.  It was for me.  I hated missing all of the action!

Derek was pretty fantastic to help a mommy out, though.  I think he knew how much it killed me to miss it all.  The first night of soccer especially, he took a ton of pictures and videos so that I could feel like I was there.  So I would not sob with heartbreak at missing a first (well, not sob much).  It was soooo cute to see my little guy out there!  

He was mostly clueless and kind of wandered aimlessly.  I don't think he touched the ball for the first several games (though he did during the practice part and would tell me excitedly about all of the "goals he scored" - so cute).  He really had fun.  Mostly, he remembered the awesome treats they got at the end (seriously, this boy's gonna be a fabulous chef someday... or ridiculously obese, lol.  We'll hope for the former).  Even if Derek told me he'd had a rough night, when James talked to me he would always be way excited and tell me what a great time he'd had and how fun it had been.  Hooray for a childlike perspective (and delicious snacks to help you forget the tough stuff)!

And hooray for the ever-fabulous Lizzy (his super
cute swim instructor from last year who absolutely
adores James.  I think James is just a little bit
smitten with her as well)! She wasn't his coach
but reffed a few games.  I think she did a bad job
of masking her favoritism, but hey... :)  LOVE her!

I thankfully was able to get a sub and come to his very last game (the season finale?).  I was so excited, and I think the excitement was contagious.  Derek told me that he had never seen James so excited and engaged out there, and that he was sure it was because I was there.  That makes a mommy feel good, I'll tell ya that.  I was kind of worried about embarrassing the fam (mostly Derek... sorry, hon) but apparently not worried enough to let it stop me, because I was crazy goofy.  I'm gonna be one of those sports moms.  I've got too much cheerleader in me to keep quiet.  Or stay sitting. Or not kick my leg up every once in a while...

Seriously, though.  I couldn't help myself.

Any time James even sort of touched the ball, I would go a little wild.  I didn't care who was winning or scoring or whatever (and honestly, with kids that small and unskilled it was hard to tell whose goal was whose).  I just wanted James to get excited about it.  To keep up with the group.  To even try to touch the ball.  :)  I'm easy to please.  It was really cute how excited he'd get when he did any of these things.  He'd look over at me, smile proudly, and we'd do a mutual raise-the-roof motion.  It was fun.  We're a good pair.

Really dark, pathetic picture... but you get the idea.

I'm so glad we decided to put James in soccer this year.  I think he learned a bit of coordination and general skill.  He learned a bit about endurance and persistence. And he learned that playing a team sport (especially one with yummy treats at the end) can be loads of fun!  

Go, Team Eruption!