The first half of soccer season #7 has finally taken its winter break and being that we are opting out of basketball again this season, we are free from weekly sports practices and games until March! This has been a busy fall season, with the four boys on four different teams. But it's also the first year in many that Jared isn't coaching one of the boys' teams, which has helped with the logistics. Each week there are a sum total of 8 practices - teammate carpooling has saved us - and each Saturday we try to figure out how to get to 4 games, which was no small feat now that Caleb is playing travel soccer. Remarkably, so far we have managed to handle the games on our own with the exception of one weekend when Jared was traveling to Illinois and I had to farm Liam out to another teammate. During this fall season I have also made 4 double batches of Rice Krispie Treats per request when we are assigned to bring snacks for that week's game. Who would have thought at 41 I would have mastered such a delicacy! This was the first season I remember where we only had one week of rain which cancelled practices and games. Usually I can count on a handful of cancelations...something the parents secretly enjoy.
We'll start with Jonah who is playing in a U10 (10 and under) Recreation league and his favorite position is goalkeeper. The first time he played that position he let in two goals, but blocked a couple as well. I thought for sure he would come undone after missing the first goal, but he didn't seem phased in the least. Nor did he seemed bothered when he let the second goal in and after the game he came up to me so proud wondering how I thought he did. Of course I thought he did great, but I was even more impressed that he was able to brush off the goals he let in and keep working to block any he could. Jonah is quite an aggressive player and never fears the bigger kids due to all the play time he gets in the back yard with the big brothers, and also from "playing up" into U10 Rec last spring with Gavin.
Jonah's two twin buddies are usually at Liam's game as they have a big brother who plays on the team with Liam. Here they are sitting on top of the twins car chatting about who knows what and eating snacks. Life doesn't get much better than this for a 7yr old!
Gavin is playing on a U10 Challenge team - his first time playing "select" soccer requiring a tryout (one level up from Jonah). The difference is, he now has two practices per week (like Liam) and they get a more professional shirt, shorts and socks to boot. He's fast on the field and good with his foot work. The tongue is the key! It's never inside the cage.... always as active participant in any of Gavin's activities. He's had a bit of a rough go with a coach that has been our least favorite coach in all of our years of soccer, but Gavin has kept a positive attitude and tried his best with this team.
Liam has had a terrific season with his U12 challenge team. He's playing with a few kids from his team last year and they are all amazing athletes and good friends too. They happen to be the oldest ones on the team and at first Liam was unsure if the younger kids were going to be an asset or hold them back. But they have turned out to be a really strong team with mostly ties and wins, which compared to last year - when the only games they won the entire season were in the tournaments when they took the trophy (classic underdog story) - is a huge improvement. Liam is a tenacious fighter on the field, always trying to anticipate where he needs to be and unwilling to give up when it's a one on one fight for possession of the ball. He and his teammates have great passing skills, a sign of a more advanced team, making me wonder if they are not actually a secret travel team.
Caleb is playing travel for the first time on SOCA's U14 Classic team which means most of his games are within 30-45 minutes of Charlottesville and there was only one regular season Sunday game to miss (as well as a few Sunday tournament days). It has been a fantastic experience. This team started out with boys who for the most part had never met, but before mid-season they had bonded so well they were setting up times to hang out (or whatever middle schoolers call "play-dates") when they weren't playing soccer together. Caleb loves playing striker and is fantastic at making beautiful cross passes and he's also the designated corner kick guy. Caleb is not as aggressive on the field compared to his brothers, but his strength is in his calculated moves that shift the ball to where it needs to go, and he does a great job communicating with his teammates on the field.
In the beginning of the season, I knew we'd need to have the conversation with his coach about missing Sunday games and I was a little nervous about it. The week before, one of Caleb's friends from our ward who was also playing Classic had a tough experience with breaking the news to his coach. Imagine my relief when I walked over to Coach Paul to talk with him about missing Sunday games to have him tell me it wouldn't be a problem at all, after all there was only one scheduled Sunday game and two tournaments. He then went on to tell me what a great leader and positive teammate Caleb was on the team. I was relieved to not have been berated over missing Sunday games like my friend was, and to learn that Caleb was already shining.
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