Game On!!

Collin had his first soccer game yesterday – and he was on cloud nine the entire day … with the small exception that he was so disappointed he couldn’t play another game the same day. His game was at 8:30 in the morning and he just couldn’t wait … good thing he didn’t have to wait until the afternoon! Mom and Nathan came up and spent the night to catch his early morning debut and it wasn’t a disappointment! The ‘White Sharks’ as they have labeled themselves (and as evident by the color of their uniforms – Collin wanted to be called the white crocodiles but he was out voted --) were pitted against the Red Dragons in a ‘classic’ match. The fields are set up so that there are two PVC goals on each end of the field which is about 30 yards long and 15 yards across. Collin was just excited by the fact they didn’t have to use cones for the goals (unlike practice!) They play 3 v 3 with 6-minute quarters and a break long enough to change the players out. Collin started on the sideline (the whoas of being the coaches son) but we were quickly down 4-0 by the first quarter because the other team had quite the bruiser who literally threw elbows and ran kids over! The kids fought back though and Collin scored two goals! They were running all over the place. It doesn’t take much to knock the boys over, and they are overly dramatic in their response to a little kick in the shins or running into each other. All in all it’s hilarious to watch. Collin’s teammate Cooper added one more goal in the second half and the game ended up a 7-3 loss for our team. If there was any disappointment about losing, it didn’t show long once the koolaid drinks and fruit roll-ups came out of the bag. That is, of course, except for Collin. As we were walking back to the car, Collin asked if we lost. I told him that the other team scored more goals than we did, so yes, we didn’t win. Collin thought about it for a moment and then responded, “Dad, I don’t like to lose.” … in a somber tone. The he added, “I’m going to go tell my friend Carson that we had our first game today … and lost!” I responded with, “Why don’t you tell him you had your first game and had fun.” He thought about it for a second and then said, “I’ll tell him that later.” Not sure where he gets his competitiveness from … not that he ever had a chance between Kelli and I. We did have a lot of fun and look forward to many more games and fun. Just another funny saying from one of the boys -- at practice on Wednesday I was trying to teach them to pass. One of the boys picked up a weed (obviously wasn't pay too much attention to the important task at hand) and turned to me and said, "My Mom has these kinds of flowers in her yard!" Yes, many more fun days on the 'pitch'.

And one tired boy as a result!