Soccer!

The boys had their first day of soccer today!  We had the earlier time slot (8:45 AM), which made for a slightly painful morning.  (Of course, this whole year is "sleeping in" compared to kindergarten, which starts at 7:30 AM.)

It was funny -- you could tell the first-time parents (not sure how to get to the soccer fields) versus the veteran parents (equipped with their folding chairs).

The coach is a dad of one of the other boys on the team.  He seems very nice (he started out with the kids by saying, "I just have one rule -- have fun!").  The boys had a good time, although James ran out of steam in the middle and walked off the field.  After some milk, he was ready to go back in.

They did a couple of drills and played some games of "fox and chickens" where the foxes had to chase and pull the pinnie (like a flag) off of the chicken.  The coach was the chicken at first, and then some of the kids got to be the chicken.  Mattie was a chicken and quite enjoyed it.

Then they did a game where the coach threw out the ball and the kids were supposed to chase after it and kick it back into the goal.  The first time, one of the kids just picked it up and ran into the goal (and half the kids ran into the goal with it).  The next time, it went out of bounds on one side; the time after that, they made it into the goal...on the field next door to theirs.  It was hilarious. But by and large, they all seem to be doing pretty well for their age, at least in my very inexperienced judgment.

They're in the 3-4 age group, but I think there must be some division by age -- the kids on the other half of the field looked smaller and had a lot more parents out there.  :)