S's First Soccer Practice

Thursday was S's first soccer practice. Several of our family members were in town and came to practice with us. We arrived to a park full of kids of various ages, in equally various uniforms, kicking soccer balls around in designated areas based on their team. After asking one of the coaches, we found our rec center group at the opposite end of the park, in plain clothes, doing the same. For a second, I admit I wished S was part of one of those teams with the uniforms. But I quickly remembered that she's only 6 and has basically no idea how to play soccer yet, and all of those kids seemed older and much more experienced. The rec center team was probably the best place for her, and maybe, if she really enjoys being a part of this team, it will spring board her into something more structured in the future.

And, besides, uniforms are supposed to arrive by the next practice anyway. And for my own selfish purposes, I'm excited to say there will be team pictures on the 23rd.

S's team consists of 5 kids in her age group: 3 boys and 2 girls. But the other girl didn't make it to the first practice, so it was just S and 3 boys. The coach is also one of the boys' mom. The first practice involved mingling, teaching the kids to kick with the inside of their foot, and some semi-structured pass practice. At one point, the coach caught the boys passing only among themselves and excluding S. She pointed it out and asked them to involve her, and everything seemed fine after that. I'm not sure S has ever been singled out for being a girl before. On the other hand, I don't think the boys really did it on purpose.

All in all, everyone seemed to get along pretty well and S had a good time. She's excited to go back. In fact, C was a little jealous that she didn't get to play, since she didn't choose soccer as her activity this season. I told her she could join next season if she still wanted to.