Soccer Season-2014

This was Eli's second year to play soccer and there were some definite highs and lows. The way they organized the teams this year in our area really wasn't fair. Basically, if you knew people you could stack your team with as many players as you wanted. Everyone else was divided among the remaining coaches. Instead of dividing the boys and girls out evenly among all the teams you had some teams with 15 six year old boys on it and some teams (like ours) without a single one. Eli's team was VERY young. Only one other boy on Eli's team had played soccer before. The rest of the kids were all very new. Two of the kids in the picture below never even showed up to games, so that meant Eli and most of the other boys played the entire game. It sounds fun but when you have teams with 15+ players who can rotate players every 5 minutes for breaks, it makes it tougher on the little guys who can't rotate and get really tired. 

Even with all those difficulties Eli definitely tried his hardest every game. He showed a lot more aggressiveness and awareness of the game. He ran faster and thought about what he was doing more. He had some games that were real stand-outs and some games that were huge blow-outs. It was an interesting season and to tell you the truth, I'm glad it's over. All the games were played on Sunday afternoons and more than anything we were all ready to have our weekends back! I guess when soccer sign-ups happen next year we'll just have to see if Eli wants to play or not. I don't think we're going to push him in any particular direction ;) So for now, here is this year's soccer highlight reel ...

Eli's 2014 Soccer Team

Eli definitely showed more aggressiveness this year when it came to playing. 

We were very happy about that!

Team huddles happened after every game :)

These two are my heart.

Having a talk after a game where they didn't win...

Grammy, Pop, and Zue-Zue made a lot of Eli's games. 

Ready and focused

Sometimes Eli had to even fight off his teammates for the ball.

This little boy earned lots of talks from his father (the coach) 

about who was on his team and who wasn't. 

One huge stand-out game for my little guy. 

He scored 4 goals on his own!

The day we all had waited for since the beginning of the season...Time for his medal!

One last team huddle

Super proud of his medal

Grammy, Pop, and Zue-Zue were all there for his final game and to see him get his medal. 

Way to go, Eli! You finished another season of soccer!

The End of Soccer Season

Soccer season has come to an end for Eli this year. I don't know if this is going to be his sport, but I definitely think Eli had fun playing this season. Being one of the youngest and smallest on the field was  not easy, but Eli made the best of it. I think next year there will be a HUGE difference in his agility and speed and watching him play will be completely different than this year. Even still I think Eli's first soccer season went incredibly well. He made some new friends and learned more about teamwork and working together. Here are some of the pictures from Eli's first soccer season highlight reel :)

My little guy ready to play!

I loved seeing his expression when he got the ball.

Giving Coach Jimmy five

Look at that form!

Half-time break

Thumbs up, Mom!

Waiting to receive his medal

Eli's favorite part to soccer season…getting his medal at the end of the final game.

Giving Coach Jimmy his thank you gift for being a great coach.

Eli and John Matthew

What a great end to his first soccer season!

Eli's 1st Soccer Game

Like I mentioned in the previous post, Eli and I had to leave Grammy and Pop's house early Sunday morning so we could make it back in time for his first soccer game. We were all so excited for opening day! Before we left, I took some pictures of Eli in his soccer uniform at our house.

We got to the soccer fields and the first thing they did was take their team pictures. The sun was really bright so Eli informed the photographer that he'd like to do the "1-2-3 open your eyes" trick. Every time the photographer got to "3", Eli opened his eyes really wide and also opened his hand at the same time. It was pretty funny. I'll be curious to see what his pictures from the photographer end up looking like. 

After all the individual shots, they took a team photo. Eli is one of the youngest players on his team. Most of the other kids are in kindergarten or first grade, but he doesn't seem to notice the age or size difference. 

They had a quick team meeting before the game started and then it was time to take the field. 

Eli was ready to go!

I wish I could tell you tons of details about the game, but I'm really pretty clueless. I played one season in high school, but it was on a co-ed team and the girls really didn't get to play that much. Josh has never played soccer at all or watched it, so we're kind of learning as we go. If this becomes a sport Eli truly enjoys, we might have to buy a "Soccer for Dummies" book. 

Pretty soon it was halftime and one of Eli's favorite parts of soccer...refreshment time :)

So you know that kid who always likes to ask questions? Yeah, he's ours :) Eli LOVES to ask Coach Jimmy questions during the game. Unfortunately, a couple of times it was to ask if it was his turn to take a break. LOL! I just about died! I finally told him that he was not allowed to ask that question anymore! He'd get a break when Coach Jimmy said he could. We're definitely going to have to work on his endurance and stamina :)

The game finally ended and then it was time to shake hands with the other team. Our one little girl on our team quickly told those boys how to get in line. She's got some definite leadership skills. 

Our team got their first win! Woo hoo! What a great start to Eli's first soccer season.