Friday, September 28, 2007

Fall

I love Fall. Although there are definitely things that I enjoy throughout the rest of the year...fall is my favorite season overall. It's gloomy today, threatening to rain but not actually letting loose. The air is cooler and I love it. This is perfect cozy sweatshirt weather...ooh and hot chocolate...and the holidays are just around the corner. This is the best time, when the kids are starting to plan their Halloween costumes and my birthday is coming up.

and the stress of Christmas shopping hasn't hit yet!

Also, soccer season just started back up and tomorrow is Gentrys first "game". I'm interested to see how this will go because both boys are playing in a new league (since we moved) and everything is very different.

Last year was McKays first and he played on a team with 7 other kids, they played 6 on 6 which meant that two kids were always sitting. It always seemed that someone didn't want to play anyway or was nursing a horrible injury (like a blade of grass stuck in their sock or dry lips) so the numbers work out fine. They practiced once a week and played games on Saturdays. They were taught the dynamics and the rules of soccer. 3 or 4 of the kids on his team were fast and talented and McKay never touched the ball, but he really got a kick out of being goalie. He'd wiggle his fingers into his goalie gloves and get this really fierce look on his face and then do his best to stop the ball (he was better at the face then he was at the ball stopping, but that's ok!).

This year, though, the rules are different. Instead of practicing during the week, they dedicate the first twenty minutes each Saturday to practice and then play a game for 30 minutes. There are only 5 kids on each team and they play 3 on 3. No goalie. While at first I thought it was silly to go backwards (these rules are so much easier) and I'm more likely to push him beyond what I think he can do rather than making things easier...it was actually a pleasant surprise to see how aggressively he went after the ball during the first game. He was the star of the team by far, which is completely opposite of last year where he was constantly outshined. I suppose it makes sense...he's faster this year and has more knowledge of whats supposed to be happening plus there are less kids to deal with...oh, and the no goalie aspect...so he scored some goals and he was really proud of himself and I realized that maybe this is going to be a good change. I guess I'm not right ALL of the time :)

So, like I said tomorrow is Gentrys first game and since he's never played (any organized sport) before I'm not sure what to expect. His rules are even more relaxed than McKays because he's in the lower division. He tends to want to run the show so I'm half expecting him to be coaching by week 3! Should be fun!

No comments: