Frankie delved into his first organized sport this spring with soccer in Ivins. They played on Tuesdays from the 20th of March until the 1st of May, little half hour long 3 vs 3 matches. He really enjoyed it. We weren't sure he would, but he did. He was generally pretty good at hustling for the ball and giving it a good effort. He did have his moments of frolicking about, but he is after all my kid - and he's five.
On the day of his first game we went on a hunt for some cleats. First we tried the family stash, but there weren't any small enough. Next the consignment type of sporting goods store. Go figure, they didn't have any kid sizes left. (you know, day of...) So I took a deep breath, not sure how much I was going to be dropping on cleats for 7 weeks of a sport that Frankie may or may not like, and we went to a real store. I made my way to the cheapest pairs, and we asked the worker to bring us some for him to try on.
After a few rounds he just brought us everything they had in stock in Frankie's size. Frankie saw those neon blue/green cleats and got stars in his eyes. They were 10 bucks more, and I thought they would clash with his uniform, so I tried really hard to talk him out of them. Finally I told him he could have them if he paid the difference out of his own money. He's pretty careful with his little wad these days, so I was shocked when he agreed. It still makes me laugh, but he really does love the things. We had to text a picture to Jeremy at work and he showed everyone in the E.R. the awesome cleats his son had picked out.
Here's some pictures of him
(and other kids whose parents may or may not sue me for putting pictures of their children on my blog) in action:
Please note the tongue. One of these days I'm worried he's going to bite it off.
Watching 5 year olds play soccer is endlessly entertaining. Sometimes they break away with the ball, and they're so excited they keep kicking it into the next field. Sometimes they just can't resist leaning over and picking it up with their hands. Our team was really good at missing the goal by inches. Frankie had quite a few of these himself, and one goal that went in. He said it was because Grandma Pat was there that game to give him good luck.
Frankie's game face:
The cute team huddle and cheer at the end of the match. I should mention that the park where they played is absolutely beautiful.
Frankie's fan club:
Frankie and Jarek had the same uniforms in their different divisions. The team name Frankie's team chose was the Green Turtles. Their coach (who was great) said that when they started winning they should change it to the Ninja Turtles. Then with a few games left they were suddenly the Green Dragons. It was hard to keep up.
Look! I'm a soccer Mom. This is "someone take a picture with me in it to prove I was at every game cheering for my kid." Frankie is faring much better in organized sports then I ever did. Seeing as Kindergarten Soccer was the only one I ever tried, and I hated it.
Everyone got a medal on the last day. Look how proud he is. The older Frankie gets the more I see that his personality is that of optimism and great joy in so many things. He loves life and he loves living it. I'm so glad.
He was sad on the last week that soccer was over. He said he wished it could go on forever. I kind of do, too. At this point the kids are just having fun. Parents aren't nuts yet and most of the kids aren't overly competitive. And like I said, endlessly hilarious.
