More Soccer

Wednesday morning soccer is still going well. I'm glad that we've had four for four on sunny Wednesday mornings--so we haven't yet had a weather cancellation.

The volunteer coaches are getting the rhythm down. Things took a turn for the better when they split the group into 4 teams instead of just 2--now all the kids get more playing time. Yay! This actually worked out in a round about way. On our first Wednesday, we were at a school, and just as we were rapping things up, the principal came out and told us we had to rent the field from the district if we wanted to use it. So the next week we changed locations. I checked with different people that work for the school district, and they thought this principal was over the top in his request, as we are just a gathering of families, not a formally organized group--so we changed to a different school. The new school has been happy to host us without any problems. As an added bonus, they have a bonafide soccer field with goals. So we add the portable goals provided by one of our coaches, and we are able to get 2 games going with smaller teams for 6-7. It has made for much less chaos on the field! What first seemed like a major setback to our low-cost soccer efforts has turned into a blessing because our new field is better equipped for us.

Since the teams have been divided in half, David is much more likely to enjoy soccer, and he's been better about staying on the field when he's supposed to. (It also helped that we decided to leave his bike at home, so it wasn't a distraction when he was supposed to be listening to his coach.)

As for the sidelines--well, they are still being graced by this beauty:

As the organizer of this soccer group, I sometimes get pulled in different directions during the hour long practice and game combo. Alina is so patient with me. One time, I left her in her stroller with her bottle. I kept glancing over to check on her, until I saw that she wasn't there any longer. One of the other mothers had found her on the ground next to the stroller, happily playing. Apparently Alina had squirmed her way out of the stroller and didn't call for help. The other mother saw that I was tied up, so she held Alina until I got back to that side of the field. So typical of our patient little girl.