Put Me In Coach!

When the other team only has 4 players there has to be a rotation of our players.

Practice Makes Perfect

Coach Joe

Joe stepped in and acted as coach for Hana's soccer team last weekend since her coach was out of town. He had a lot of fun! I was sick, but I sent my camera with Joe and a good friend of mine whose daughter is on Hana's team was nice enough to take some pictures for me.

He played the part of coach at last night's practice too since Coach is under the weather. Man, there's some nasty stuff going around!

Soccer Mates

Hana refers to her teammates as soccer mates.

This particular one just so happens to also be a tumbling mate.

As well as a school mate.

All in all she's a really good mate.

A sweet mate.

A great mate. 

Inseparable mates.

Ready for Soccer Practice!

(Taken last week)

Game 1: Go Cowboys!

Waiting for the game to start.

Getting instructions from the coach.

Warm up.

Saying the YMCA oath.

Huddled up.

The kickoff. Is it called the kickoff in futbol or just in football?

We were off to a great start.

The other team was good.

Coach is saying, "Other way! Other way!" LOL!

The other team was really good.

Coach says, "Who wants to score a goal?!"

The kids had a blast.

Did I mention the other team was really, really good?

We hustled.

The domino effect:

There was a lot of hand holding going on on our team.

More hand holding.

Go team go!

It was hot and Hana's allergies were getting the best of her, but she played a great game!

We're gonna score!

More hand holding. (While I snapped this pic the coach was yelling "Where's my defense?" as the other team scored down on the other end of the field. Oops!)

Have I mentioned yet how good the other team was? I mean really! Our team's goal was to try to get the ball and score. Hana, nearing the age of 4, is the youngest on our team and the oldest is one little boy who just turned 6. The other team seemed to have many more 5 and 6 year-olds who have played for a year or two already. They were passing to each other, getting in front of the ball and stopping it from behind, etc. I think David Beckham's boys were on that team. Seriously. Two appeared to be brothers as well as the coach's sons and they were definitely the stars! I hope there were scouts there looking at those kids. Every time one of the boys scored he would do that pelvic thrust thing where you put your arms in a V and hit your pelvic area while thrusting forward. LOL! And when I say every time, I mean every time. They scored about 10+ points to our 2 or 3. But it was a great game and the kids had a blast and that's all that really matters!

Even better? When it was over they got to have snacks! For Hana it doesn't get much better than that! She loves snacks! ;-) 

Go Cowboys!

The Deuce

Well, it's official. I'm a soccer mom.

Today was Hana's 1st soccer game.

They are the Cowboys! Her coach kindly refers to them as "Cowboys and Cowgirls."

Hana came up with the name for the team. They were given homework to think of team names and her suggestion was the Cowboys. Coach took a vote and her suggestion won.

She was very excited for her first game.

Lately she's consumed with winning. "I'm going to beat you! I won! I beat you! I'm faster! I'm smarter! I'm better!" Those are common phrases out of her mouth these days. I don't know exactly how or why this happened, but I can say she comes by it honestly.

Joe and I are both very competitive (ahem) but we are doing our best to make Hana a good sport. "It's not about winning or losing, it's about having fun. Well, yes, it is a lot of fun to win, but when one person or team wins, that means the other loses. Someone has to lose, that's just life. What's most important is to be a good sport and good team player win or lose. If you win, tell the other team 'good job' because you could be in their shoes next time. When you lose you should still tell the other team 'good job and don't be upset because you lost. It's just one game." Yea, we've been saying that stuff a lot lately.

She is number 2. Joe says it's because she's the (insert S word here). We call her The Deuce and she loves it.

Well, the time is now.

Go Cowboys! (and Cowgirls!)