Two Word Wednesday... Field Days!

Price - The Soccer Player

Well, I realized tonight pulling these pictures together that I really do not have a lot of Price playing soccer. I feld like I was always taking his picture but I guess that was because he was playing two sports... I have far more baseball pictures. I do have some prints from a friend who takes beautiful pictures but my scanner is not working. I even somehow missed the posed-put-your-foot-on-a-ball-and-smile picture and he isn't really liking my idea to put on the uniform just to get the picture for our wall. Not that I can't use a picture from another season... yes, green shirts, again!!! I think at this point we have every number between 1-15.

Anyway, Price returned to team Fire this year. This is the eighth season that some of these kids have played together and they have so gelled as a team. The coaches are fantastic, the kids are fun, the parents are great to hang out with... I enjoy every moment of it and sometimes find myself sad knowing it will someday end, even if someday is years away!

This year the coaches had a goal to go undefeated and Price talked about this every week. They did it!! They had a few games that were nail-biters for a quarter or so but typically they pulled it together and won without too much of a battle.

While Price still played defense at times, his main position was midfield. He did great there ~  he could still kick it long and hard but also was able to score, something he had not done last season. He scored several times this season and that was huge for him... as much as I stress how important defense is, I know he enjoys being able to say he scored. He also had a few assists.

Price also was one of the main go-to players for corner kicks and kick-ins and I also thought his footwork improved this year. He still has a way to get others where they need to be without coming across as bossy. But what is most fun to watch is Price's positive attitude... he just has fun with it all.

Next season Price moves up, along with most of his team, to U10, which means goalies and offsides are added in to the mix... a new challenge but I am so looking forward to seeing them play together again!

Brynn's Soccer Stories and Score...

Ah, Brynn the soccer player... each trip to the field was an adventure in itself and I do wish that I had spent time after each game writing down specifics... her words, her actions, her interactions with others... because there was never a dull moment!

Brynn was also on Spike (with Evan). This was Brynn's third season playing. She did not play in the fall so it had been a year since she was on a team and I will say that she was a much better player this time out. She would run after the ball and get her foot on it fairly often. She did not once ask even once this season to use the bathroom in the middle of the game, though she did yell across the field a few times asking if it was snack time yet and if I would bring her her drink!

Brynn went to each game VERY pumped up to play. Each game was going to be the game where she kicked the ball a million times, ran as fast as she could the whole time, and scored lots.

Sometimes that enthusiasm lasted a few minutes and sometimes, well, it did not. Distractions such as the water cooler, the netting of the goal, or even her own imagination became too much to ignore.

The best part of watching  Brynn play was her excitement when she kicked the ball. She would stand there and cheer for herself and sometimes yell over to us to make sure we saw it with both hands giving us a thumbs up sign.

She did score a goal this year and I missed taking a picture of it but it was a great moment... Evan passed her the ball and she dribbled it a bit and then took a shot. She stood there a moment in disbelief and then was all smiles and cheers.

And of course, the best part of the season for Brynn was the ending, when the sweet much-desired trophy was in her hands!

Next up for Brynn is machine-pitch baseball. So far t-ball has been her favorite sport so it will be interesting to see if this more challenging level is as fun for her. And she is BEGGING me to let her join the swim team. And she wants to do soccer camp... I can't wait to see the boys high school coach and his players on that first day when Brynn comes bouncing onto the field, LOL!

The Evan Express...

Okay, I am going to really try to do a sports entry a day for the next few days to finish out the Spring season before school ends on Wednesday and I will need to do school summaries.

So today I am focusing on Evan. Since this is my family "scrapbook" I am going to be honest with how it went and it may sounds a bit boastful ~ I likely will not let Evan read this until he is well past his organized sports playing years so he doesn't get all full of himself on me! But, we are talking about Evan and he has been ALL SPORTS since the day he was born, so none of his success on the field is surprising and he has put in the work to get where he is... how funny is that to write about someone who is 6!

Evan was on team Spike, though one of the coaches on another team simply referred to our team as "The Evan Express".  This was Evan's fourth season of soccer and his fourth and final season in the U6 age group. We considered at one point asking if Evan could play in a higher age group but I have always had very mixed feelings about doing that in any sport; my rule follower side tends to win out (that the age groupings are there for a reason and if strong players get bumped up, it is not fair to those left behind because the competition is less). It is a tough call though but ultimately we made the right decision this time to leave him put. Evan might not have had the competition he would have had if we had bumped him up (and the bigger goals he is looking forward to), but he probably would not have had the opportunity to build his leadership skills either and he really blossomed in that area this season. And one day, if he leaves the soccer field behind to play another sport or to participate in a different activity, it is those skills that are transferable.

Anyway, the day one of the other parents came over to tell me how much she and the other parents appreciated Evan helping their children be successful (he was trying to get everyone on the team to score by getting them into good spots and getting them the ball) I almost cried. Evan sometimes played more than I thought he should (coach's call and he was a competitive one!). I had been worried about what other parents thought about his play time and I was relieved that they were seeing what Evan was doing.

I think his team won all but two games and one of those two was a tie; those were the first two games of the season. His team at the end of the season was not the same team from the beginning... they improved immensely!

Evan is an intense player. Every move Evan makes on the field is with purpose. He would score and immediately run back to the middle of the field in preparation for the next kickoff. He understands both the game and the role he needs to take to keep his team in the game; his former coach, who still coaches a team we played, mentioned that he found it funny to be strategizing against a six year old (we won that game by the way!). Look who he hangs with during the breaks in the game...

Each week, after practice ended, Evan would stay and play a bit more with anyone willing. When he did come out of the game, he would stand near the coach and remind him, frequently, that he was ready to go back in. I can honestly say that while Evan had the ball a lot, he really was not a ball hog and was very much a team player. He is the player that never wants to come out but really needed to come out at times so the players on the other team could make plays. When Evan was on defense very little would get by him, but when it did, he  would get very bothered. And if it happened twice in a game, while others may have thought he was wiping sweat from his eyes, I know differently.

In the soccer league, if a team is short players, they can pull younger players up and this worked in Evan's favor this year, when Price's team (U8) didn't have enough players for the two games on either end of Spring Break. Outsiders probably would not have been able to tell that Evan was not really a member of that team. He was just as aggressive as the bigger kids and even scored two goals playing up. One of the coaches told me that he liked when Evan played and practiced with them because not only was Evan a good player, but the others stepped up their game because "the younger kid" was showing them up! Price, I will say, never seemed bothered by his little brother joining in (and I did clear it with him each time) and it was fun to watch them play midfield next to each other.

Next up for Evan is machine-pitch baseball and tonight he said he might like to be on the swim team with Caleb. I know he will be intense for the baseball; swimming doesn't involve a ball so if he does it, it will be interesting to see what happens!

Wordless Wednesday

Campin' Out

Brynn had her first Girl Scout camping trip this weekend. I didn't want to miss it... I spent plenty of time at camp as a Girl Scout and I think Brynn and I were equally excited for the trip. So we headed up to the campground mid-day Saturday; it is about an hour from our house. Brynn wanted to get her soccer trophy so we arrived later than the other girls.

Brynn and 5 of her fellow Daisy Scouts enjoyed S'mores by the campfire (using GS cookies... YUM!), learning to tie knots and fold flags, hiking through the woods, and just hanging out with each other.

Brynn tolerated sweeping up the porch of the activity house, having to keep quiet during the flag ceremony, and not being able to snack on her schedule.

The bugs were bad but the company was great. Brynn's favorite parts were using her new flashlight, watching the movie out in the stars, and being silly with her bunkmate Carter... we pushed two bunk beds together and they were on the top while Carly and I nibbled on sweet treats below. No surprise, but I am pretty sure night owl Brynn kept the other three cabins (basically a screened in porch with three metal bunk beds) of Daisies and their moms awake a bit later than they planned! But, you know what, I wasn't going to shush her too much... she was having a blast and, well, being tired the next day is just part of the whole camping experience!

Can't wait to do it all again next year!

The Star Returns...

Brynn had her dance recital Friday night and her recital practice on Tuesday.  These are the nights she goes to practice for... she LOVES to be on stage.  Can you tell?

She gets so excited and wound up!

These are from her hip-hop dance group.  There are five girls and they are such a cute bunch (I am not posting pictures of the other girls because I don't know if their parents would want me to). They each had their own little solo time.

Brynn also had her own little solo time after the curtain closed, when she peeked out from underneath it to shine one last smile at the audience. I didn't get a picture of that but hopefully it will come on the video I ordered.

Brynn also did a gymnastics routine but it was even more challenging to get pictures of as not only because shiny costumes under bright lights are not my friends, but she was also in the back. She did great and even showed the audience some crazy dancing numbers while waiting for her turn to tumble. I love her face in this one from the ending...

These two pictures are from rehearsal and I have to include them.  This one was the first time they practiced the routine on stage... can you tell how it was going?  Subtle is not Brynn's style!

And this one I love because I was lost on how to keep this LONG piece of material in her slippery silky hair while she was rolling during gymnastics and I decided to postpone the decision until recital night (And I did it by wrapping it around a 1/2 ponytail!  Woo hoo!  Felt just as proud as after I sewed on the baseball patches for the boys). Well rehearsal night Brynn wore it her own way... Ninja Girl returns!

Brynn was very appreciative at the end of the roses Grandma brought from her (from her own garden) and the bag of goodies from Grandma... can't go wrong giving the girl tic tacs and gum. And this year, the studio gave the dancers a medal and it appears Brynn thinks her head is the perfect place to show it off!

Soccer ended yesterday and I am on a Girl Scout camping trip at the moment so more pictures to come tomorrow!