Grant's Fall Soccer

How adorable is that smile!

In effort to get B home from work a little earlier I persuaded him to commit to coaching a 5 and under soccer team this fall.  Due to work travel we anticipated he would miss a few games so we (I) recruited our good buddy Matt to help out too!  Work ended up taking B out for two weeks and Matt out for one of the same weekends and I redefined the term "soccer mom."  Yes I actually coached one Saturday morning game.  I really shouldn't use the term coach...encourage would probably be more accurate.  "Good job! Stay with the ball! Good job! Good job!  Yay!"  (as I whispered under my breath to the opposing coach "is this a corner kick? oh goal kick, right!") Hey, I tried.  I might have also been the only coach to ever call a game early due to melt-downs, but I'm a mom and I call it like I see it and those kids were done!  The smile in his picture says it all.  Grant loved soccer and the big boys had a pretty good time too.  The last game was called off by the coaches (not the organization!) due to rain.  It was a soggy mess.  I loved watching him play but getting him dressed for a game was a major ordeal!  I could never get the socks adjusted just right and the shoes on the right way and the shin guards on the way he wanted.  At the beginning of the year they had soccer academies, big practices with all of the teams.  It was too much for him and I was on the field with him the whole time or he was crying.  We finally gave up on the academies and just let him do the games and he was fine, well better.  He still melted down a few times when he thought I was leaving, but he rebounded! I would tell him "Grant, do you see other mommies out her holding their son's hands to kick the ball?!"  It was kind of sweet, but c'mon you can do this!! And he did figure it out and had a lot of fun.  As you can tell by the picture it was a small team (3 played at a time) and they all got quality playing time!  He thought he won every game (score was never kept) and no matter who scored they were all excited.  Although I do not fully grasp the rules of soccer I throughly enjoyed watching (WATCHING, not coaching)!

I love this action shot

A lot of coaching going on here.  Mainly B would yell "GO TO THE BALL!"

Coach has his game face on, Grant has an itch :)