The Big Game

Brooke has tried soccer before, and wasn't a huge fan. However, she'd only played indoor, which is much faster-paced and requires more control than outdoor. Soccer was my favorite sport to play growing up, so selfishly, I want her to have fun playing it, too. We'd gone to see Kali play in the fall and she seemed interested, so I signed her up for pee-wee park district soccer this spring. (They're warming up in the picture below.)

She seemed genuinely excited when I told her that she was on a team. I'm sure it helped that several school friends, Kali included, are on her team. They practice on Friday evenings and games are Saturday mornings. She also had fun going with Matt to pick out her ball, socks and shin guards.

On our way to both practice and the game, she said she was nervous. She kept referring to Saturday as "The Big Game."She said she was worried that she wouldn't score any goals. I assured her that I was a decent soccer player (don't laugh) and always had lots of fun playing, but only scored a handful of goals in my "career."

I think that the game went better than we could have expected. She had a HUGE smile on her face most of the game and kind of bounced around. She did a good job of staying on the fringe of the action without getting too aggressive. It was also her first real game, so I'm optimistic that as she gets more comfortable, she'll get more aggressive.

In the league that she's in, the teams are made up of about 12 kids and each team splits on to two fields: an "aggressive" and a "non-aggressive" field. Brooke was appropriately placed. I had warned her ahead of time that she and Kali may not be on the same field. They weren't and she was totally fine with that.

At the end of the game, she got the "MVP" certificate. I'm certainly proud, but also realistic. I'm going to chalk it up to either her great spirit or the large audience that came to watch her play. Either way, we'll take the free Meatheads burger.

Speaking of her audience, the Alley family was really representing!

Miles had fun playing with Jamie and Will (as usual).

And did a little soccer playing of his own. He seems to enjoy it - and he certainly has the hair for it!

Bri and Paige had fun hanging out, too.

It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun. Hopefully it's the beginning of many more soccer games in her future!