Soccer Season

A year and a half after our previous less-than-successful soccer endeavor, Marcus decided it was time to give it another try. Thankfully, the results have been much better with a 4-and-half-year-old Caleb than they were with a just-turned-3-year-old Caleb :)

The season started in early September and wrapped up this week. When we were filling out the registration paperwork, Marcus checked a box to indicate that he was willing to be an assistant coach. I guess they were a little short on volunteers because when we went to the soccer meeting, he was listed as the one and only coach of Caleb's team :) Over the past two months, there have been a total of eight practices and eight games scheduled (two practices were rained out). Even though I was sick most of the season, I made it to at least part of every game. (Getting a shower and putting on make-up beforehand rarely happened, but at least I got to see him play :)

At the U5 level (U5 = Under 5), games are played in four 6-minute quarters. (You'd think that would equal a 36-minute game, but the games were usually just over an hour from start to finish.) There are six players on a team and three of them are on the field at a time. We had a bit of a hodge-podge team this year. Some never showed up to practice and only made it to some games. Some were very, very distracted on the field and never seemed to quite figure out what was going on. The others developed well over the season and play pretty well together now. Regardless, despite the best efforts of coach and players, we have been soundly defeated in every game. They don't keep score at this young of an age, but the kids all realize that they get scored on a lot more than they score. On the positive side, you should see our parents go wild every time one of our kiddos gets that ball in the goal! Caleb scored more than anyone this season, and even Ethan would jump up from his little game chair and yell when he saw his brother get the ball in the goal.

Overall, I'd say this season has been a success for Caleb. He enjoyed himself, he got better at soccer, and he made some friends. I don't know if we'll play again in the spring or if we will wait until next fall, but I definitely see more soccer on the horizon.