Soccer 2019

Soccer pretty much consumed our lives from September to the beginning of November. Dada coached Emmett's team and I coached Clara's team again. Somehow Dada went to the annual soccer  board meeting in January and got Sarah and I to join the board (notice he did not join). I was in charge of uniforms. pictures, and trophies, and it was definitely a lot of work, but also rewarding.  Between Clara, Emmett, and Bailey playing, plus helping take down goals and clean up, we literally were at the fields from 8:00 until after noon most Saturdays. It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun!

Helping to clean up

I convinced Lissa to help me coach so Clara and Olive could be on the same team, and convinced Mason to have Valliwide sponsor us so Eden could be on the team, and it became a party! We even had one of Clara's best friends from preschool and a girl from our team last year! Coaching Clara was challenging as always, and I swore again this would be my last year doing so. She doesn't listen to me and frustrates me like crazy because she only tries when she wants to. When she wants to do well, she does, but if she's in a bad mood, all bets are off. At one point she told me that she could only run fast for 60 seconds at a time because she was a cheetah. Our team was the Purple Cheetahs and while I did want to pull my hair out sometimes (I literally threw my hands up at halftime during an especially frustrating game and yell, "I give up" to Kevin and Mason; that's right, coach of the year), we also had a lot of fun! It was a young team and they definitely had a hard time against some of the older, bigger teams, but they held their own. By the end of the season they were playing well together and passing a lot. I definitely saw improvement from the start of the season to the end. It made me proud! 

Clara and Olive acting silly at practice.

Clara takes snacks seriously!

It's fun when you play against your friends

Purple Cheetahs forever

Eden had all the style!

I spent a lot of time tying shoes

Emmett's team randomly came together with some of the best players in his age group. It was his first year so we weren't sure what to expect (especially after soccer camp where he refused to do anything the first day), but he did great! He's so different than Clara and generally wants to please and does what he's told. He scored at least one goal in each game and played hard. Rory and Evy were also on his team which made it extra fun! I thought he's hate it and be super frustrated, but he did great. One of the moms stepped up and became his assistant coach and she was awesome. Her son and Emmett because best friends and often spent the games hugging! Needless to say, they were undefeated and now Dada thinks he's coach of the year! He was surprisingly patient with the little guys.

 

I didn't get to see a lot of Bailey's games, but the ones I did see she did great. She, Lyla, and Eli were all on the same team so that made it extra fun! The fact that so many of our friends' kids play made spending our Saturdays there not so bad. The kids are already excited for next year!

Dada, Tio, and Jon all played in the coaches game. It looked like a lot of fun and I was sad I was running a half marathon the next day and couldn't play (they let me be one of the coaches). There was only one injury and the old guys showed that they still had it!