Spring Soccer

It's here at long last!  Soccer time again.  The boys have been looking forward to it a bunch.  And with the snowy, wet winter we had, everyone is looking forward to exercising off some of those winter blahs.

Benny has moved up to the "12 and under" category.  The kids on his team are all ten and eleven years old.  Oddly enough, there are no twelve year olds.

Instead, the twelve and thirteen year olds (including Sam,) have been put in the "fourteen and under" division.  And...there is no coach for that division.  Volunteers are desperately being sought.  If no one steps up, Sam won't get to play!

For one crazy moment, I considered volunteering, just so those kids get to play this year. But I don't see how I could be available for every single one of Sam's games, given that Benny is on another team in another division. How could I see any of his games?  Or drive him where he needs to be?  I couldn't. 

So...we wait and see what happens with Sam's team.  In the meanwhile, Benny had his first practice this week.

 His coach is a fellow mom who thought exactly what I thought:  "I guess I'll step up and coach, otherwise, my kids don't get to play!"  She has two kids on the team.  The team is especially big this year, which makes it nice---if somebody misses a game, it will not create an emergency.

Practice went well in the snow-damaged, unmarked and half-forgotten soccer field we are granted by the recpark for our use.  We were missing several goals, the ground was in terrible shape, etc, but those kids were thrilled to be there.

Doing the "bear crawl" to warm up those muscles.

And--there were tryouts for goalies!  Benny did a fantastic job. 

Last year, if Benny had to miss a game, it was a huge problem for them, as no one else could do his goalie-job.  This year, they had three kids who all want to be goalie.  Maybe they'll rotate...that would be great.

In any case, we are back to living at the soccer field, washing uniforms, grabbing fast food at 8pm for dinner, and generally squeezing in homework when we can.

And I still haven't found soccer cleats in Benny's size...the stores around here are sold out.  Busy times, but it's worth it!

Have a great season, Benny!