Our Soccer Star

The whole first half!

Ben with the Traynor twins. David told them to make a wall. Ben decided a squat would cover the most territory. They were the only 3 that would play at that moment. :)

A great throw in

Notice the tongue. He gets that from me!

Today was Ben's first soccer game! What a great time. We signed him up at the YMCA with a group of friends from church. The Y was short coaches this year so in order for them to be able to play I signed David up to be their coach. Trying to coach eight 3 year olds is a large task. Thursday night was the first practice. One boy cried and ran to his mom when David said his name. Ben picked up the ball and when David stopped him to take it away he cried and ran to me. Another wanted nothing to do with the rest of the group and hung out on the other side of the field. On the way to the game today David was rehearsing the line ups and deciding how to sub the kids. When the game started only 4 would even go on the field, one of which was laying on the ground! Ben refused to play the entire first half because he was cold and they weren't using his ball. He sat on the sidelines bundled up on Katherine's lap. I guess David didn't have to worry about favoring his son. For some reason, Ben decided to play during the second half. It was so fun to watch. He even scored a goal...........do we need to mention it was in our goal? It was a great shot :) He did pick up the ball one time, but he excelled at the throw ins. One time he dribbled across the whole field horizontally right in front of the goal and kept going when he reached the side lines. It was so funny to watch them all. Sam was frequently found in the other teams huddle. At the end of the game two little boys from the other team were sneaking our team's snacks. We have twins on our team that are a year older than the rest and it showed. They were definately the stars. Jason, the boy twin scored over and over and was so proud of himself. At the end of the game I asked him how many goals he had and he said, "Um, I think 8." Then I asked his sister how many she had and she said, "I think 4." Jason very quickly corrected her and said, "No, just 2 Nicole." One poor little girl on the other team, who was actually doing a very good job and had even scored a few times was scolded by her mother. I couldn't believe it. She took her to the sidelines and yelled very forcefully and loudly, "This is not a social event. Do something out there." I wanted to say something to her like "She's 3!", but held my tongue. And I thought I was competitive. I will admit though, I did get into it when Ben finally started playing. Hopefully by the end of the season he will put 2 and 2 together. Until then, we will enjoy the great entertainment. For those of you who won't recognize him in the pictures, he is the one with the lovely green sweat pants on and the blue and white stocking hat. Notice David in the background. He displayed great patience out there.