Soccer

Soccer season got off to a very wet start. The kids had so many games cancelled that they had to extend the season! They both had great coaches. Grant still plays with a big grin on his face. He has great hustle and has really started to pass the ball. He seemed to enjoy playing goalie (just like his daddy!) and at least this fall he wasn't on fields with short goals, because I was always afraid he was going to hit his head when he was goalie! He was typically the tallest kid on the field!

And yes there was gold team and a yellow team - that wasn't confusing at all!

Early in the season I described Elizabeth as a giraffe. She has these long legs and isn't quite sure what to do with them. However, if you have ever seen a giraffe run once they get going it is beautiful and Elizabeth improved so much throughout the season. Her age is still co-ed and by the end of the season the boys would pass the ball to her and one game she scored the one and only goal! So for her first time playing soccer she really did well and we owe a lot of that to her coach. Her coach didn't have a child on the team, he coaches simply because he loves to coach. The word I used to describe his style was intense but in the best possible way. He expressed disappointment when the kids screwed up but he always celebrated big with all of them when they had successes. I think she truly learned the fundamentals of the game.

The funniest story of Elizabeth's soccer season is what her coach called her. The first game I noticed him shouting "Beth!" and she wasn't responding - mainly because we don't call her Beth - no one calls her Beth! This went on the entire game. I talked to her about it afterwards and we agreed that she just needed to tell her coach to call her Liz, if Elizabeth was too much for him to shout during the games. So before the next game I walked up with her to the coach and explained that she doesn't respond to Beth and that if needs a shorter version of Elizabeth to please call her Liz or even Lizzie. He looks at her and says "so do you want me to call you Liz or Beth?" and she says "Liz". He continues to call her Beth the whole game! I am kind of frustrated and we are kind of all laughing about it on the sidelines.  The next day I am at the school and one of her teammates is in her class so I walk up to him and say "Hey buddy, have you noticed how sometimes the coach calls Elizabeth, Beth? Do you think you could help her out and when you hear him call her that say - "hey coach we call her Liz!" or something like that". Wade looks at me and say "Yeah, at breakfast this morning I told my mom, the coach kept yelling "pass the ball to Beth" and I'm like who's Beth?!" The next game we hear the coach say "Wait for the yo-yo Beth..I mean Liz!" Which we still don't fully understand what this yo-yo business is, but he finally started to call her something other than Beth! It got to be a joke and during the medal presentation after the last game he gave Elizabeth/Beth/Liz special recognition! It was a fun soccer season and she says she is playing in the spring! Grant hasn't declared his spring sport yet (we have time!), but my fingers are crossed for baseball!