Soccer! The Sequel

Tuesday was Carter's first night of soccer.  We opted to sign him up for the same program Jacob did at his age.  It's only six weeks of 45-minute sessions, so it's pretty low-risk.  When we did it with Jacob, we knew he was ready for some sort of sports, though we weren't sure how he'd do with structure after four years of playing whatever he wanted, however he wanted around our house.  For Carter, he's much less sports-minded, though he did seem up for this so we figured it was worth a try.  It was mostly a coincidence that he ended up in the same timeframe (early January to mid-February) as Jacob had, but the reason for that was mostly because it's at the same time and place as Jacob's lacrosse practice.  It made me smile the day after Carter's first session when Jacob's first day of soccer picture showed up in my Facebook memories, and Carter will finish the day before Valentine's Day--one day before Jacob's original end date, which was one day before Carter's arrival!

In case you've forgotten the series of events, I slept horribly the night of February 13, and woke up on the 14th feeling like garbage.  I struggled through the day, exhausted and fed up with the pressure, sciatica, and (ugh) mucus plug issues that plagued me for the previous month.  I made it through the work day, only to know we had soccer and a very non-romantic post-soccer dinner at Friendly's to go before I could go to bed.  I could barely sit, let alone eat, and got a little hint when I visited the bathroom that something might be happening.  I half-expected to be woken up with labor pains, but I slept through the night and felt good enough to go into work on the morning of the 15th.  It was the Friday before a long weekend and I was determined to finish my work that day, just in case.  I was 95% of the way there when my water randomly broke as I shifted at my desk, and so began the craziness of getting to the hospital and bringing this little guy into the world.

Five years later it's his first attempt at organized sports, and he was ready!

Of course, when we went to find Jacob's shin guards, we were down a sleeve.  Even the one pair of soccer socks he still had in his drawer was down to only a single!  Grrrrr.  Thankfully Craig had a coupon for Dick's (and of course we had to get Under Armour) so we could get Carter his set.  I also knew Jacob had a pair of tiny cleats we got cheap before he started, and those were MIA, too!  Craig found them Tuesday morning buried in an old sports bag (with a cool pair of lacrosse shorts we had forgotten about).  They were a little big but Carter insisted on wearing them! 

There ended up being six kids, and when they started, Carter was probably one of three who weren't in tears or acting very hesitant to go out on the field.  He happily ran right out.  Before things really got going, the coach (I swear it's the same guy that did Jacob's) had the kids kick the soccer balls into one of the little nets.  It was so fun watching Carter do it, because he seemed beyond excited to just be able to run around!  It's hard when it's winter (particularly a cold one) and outside is off limits most of the time.



They did a bunch of ball handling drills, then played a game called Sharks and Minnows where the shark in the middle has to chase down minnows, then the caught minnows have to be sharks, too.  I noticed Carter talking to the coach after one round and he sat out the rest of that game.  I found out later that he didn't want to be a shark, but I never really was able to determine why.  He shed a lot of tears over it on Tuesday night, and I think he's just upset that he's not as fast as other kids and thought he wouldn't be able to catch them.  He seems willing now to play it again, so we'll see.  The second time they played he was the last minnow to be caught, so I guess that avoided the problem.

The last part of the session was a 3-on-3 scrimmage.  His team had a bit of a rough go--one kid scoring in his own net, one kid that liked to lay down in front of their goal and just stay there, and Carter being a little too nice or tentative out there.  I told him he needs to put some power behind the ball and not be so generous when going in one-on-one with someone, but he insisted he wasn't, so we'll see.  Here's a clip from the scrimmage.  Carter has the blue shorts with stripes down the side and high white socks.


Here's his team before the second half of the scrimmage.

He was a little discouraged that they lost, but he still seemed to have a blast and has been asking when it will be Tuesday again ever since.  It's like an exact repeat of Jacob!  It was funny watching him, because he was so joyful out there for most of it.  Jacob always took this stuff so seriously, and I recall being really nervous watching him out there because I wasn't sure if he was going to try to impose his rules on everyone else, or take it all too seriously.  With Carter my only fear was that he might get upset if they lost because he's really sensitive about that stuff.  Even though he was a little sad in a couple cases, he did so well out there.  He listened pretty well, and seemed to really enjoy the chance to get out there.  It made my heart so happy to see!

Five more weeks to go, which also means five more weeks until my sweet baby boy officially moves into true little boy status.  How is he almost five?!