We signed Josiah up for the preschool "rookie" soccer league run by a local Catholic parish, St. Francis Xavier. It's popular with lots of families in the community--there are 19 teams in the rookie division (4s and 5s) alone! Unfortunately, they apparently have a problem with coach shortages (coaches are all volunteers) . . . so Jeremy shouldered the unexpected responsibility of being our team's coach!
Josiah was less than enthusiastic about it after the first practice. But with a pep talk and a promise of reward for good attitude, he perked up considerably for the second practice and gave good effort at all the drills.
He was pretty excited to get his uniform--and his sisters were pretty jealous! They want to know when they can play soccer, too. Both like to try on his socks and cleats, and Abby has chosen a particular knitted shrug that she calls her "ooniform" and wears around the house.
It seems many teams consist primarily of people who requested to be on a team together--because their kids attend the same school, they know each other from various activities or church, etc. Ours is thus more a random conglomeration of the people without a pre-existing clique. Jeremy has had quite a challenge trying to corral everyone, balance too little parental involvement with too much, keep the wild kids under some semblance of control, and teach a few skills.
Josiah and teammates at the first game
The first game was mostly chaos. Our team scored about half the other team's goals, since the kids didn't have a clear idea of which way to direct the ball and were eager to kick it into the nearest goal. Victoria, the lone girl on the team, is one of the best players. She clearly has older siblings who have taught her something about soccer. If she gets her feet on the ball, she usually gets it into a net.
Pre-game talk from the coach
Josiah kicks at the ball when he's near it, follows the pack when they're running, and generally listens to instructions. But he often asks Jeremy for a break to get water or check out the snack situation. He told us his favorite part about soccer games is the snacks. So far, for our two past games, two different families have provided an unprecedented amount and variety of treats in the snack bags that Josiah finds far more interesting than running around the field.
Water break
Getting ready for kick-off (Josiah is in the middle)
The second game this past Friday was perhaps some improvement on the first--at least the kids had a pretty clear idea of which goal to kick the ball into! But some of the wild kids were wilder than before, and some parents don't really assist in controlling their children. Some of the kids seem to think soccer is more akin to football, so they dive for the ball and end up with a pile of others on top of them. Some play dirty, trying to kick or grab other players. Some have potty mouths. Josiah reports back to us lots of the words and antics he observes!
While the season will be a challenge for both father and son, I think overall it's good for Josiah (and maybe Jeremy). I hope our little bud picks up a few soccer skills along the way!
