Have a Ball!

Carter wrapped up his first ever soccer season this weekend. I was a little unsure of how things would turn out when we first started. There were tears (mostly his) and a whole lot of running around screaming and flailing (again, mostly his). By the end of the last game, he seemed to understand what the point of the game was and had a better grasp on the only two rules a 4 year old needs to know in soccer: keep your hands off the ball, and kick it toward the OTHER team's goal. Of course knowing those rules and actually following them are, of course, two different things...

Here's a video of Carter in action at his last practice: (if you're reading this on facebook, you may or may not be able to see this...try going to www.carrieann123.blogspot.com)



And of course, you can see that Carter took this whole soccer business *very* seriously...



He did, of course have a strong support system from his family. This is Bella cheering for him (kinda) from the sidelines of his last game...



The next soccer season starts up in January. Now what in the world am I going to do with my Saturday mornings in the meantime??? :)

Soccer Mom

Carter had his first soccer practice today. I was a little worried because there were some tears shed when we went to register him a few weeks ago, but as soon as he got his new shin guards on, he was psyched and ready to go. The women who are coaching his team are SAINTS. It was mass chaos. Carter kept saying "I just want to make a goalie." I tried to convince him that what he really wanted was to make a goal, but he wasn't buying. When we got there, his coach was standing in the goal, having kids practice kicking it in. She would stop the ball and kick it back to them. Carter came up to me and said, again that he wanted to make a goalie and then, he turns to me and says "I better go tell her to stop kicking the ball back to me so I can kick it in."

I tried several times to video tape the practice, but I was laughing so hard, I didn't have much success. Carter did, in fact, end up making lots of "goalies" (some of them were even in the right goal!!) and he also found that he was really good at throwing himself on the ball and picking it up with his hands (which apparently is frowned upon???) while someone else was trying to kick it. Also running and throwing himself against the padded wall of the gym was a big highlight (he must have done it a million times, and at one point, he even ended up tackling the goalie who had picked up the ball he was trying to kick in. Although in all fairness, I think the goalie was really just getting in the way of Carter's attempt to throw himself at the wall directly behind him. I'm pretty sure no harm or malice was intended.

In any case, he was so thrilled with his first attempt at soccer that he has not stopped grinning all night long. I told him I was really proud of him to which he replied, "yeah, I'm pretty proud of me too."

First game on Saturday...wish us luck! I will try to get some decent video this time.