Soccer game 2: The beating continues

Apparently we are people who don't learn our lessons easily, because we went into Game 2 with some fairly high expectations. We chalked up Game 1 to nerves and unfamiliarity and thought Game 2 would be an improvement. It had to be, right? 

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Game 2 was a little different because Coach Daniel had called a practice for the evening before. Only 4-5 kids showed up, and Reid and Grant did great. They played, they were happy, they listened (mostly), so we had high hopes for the game. 

We had to get to the fields early again because it was picture day. Totally cute. We snuck in a few of our own first:

{Grant L, Reid R}

And I may have been that obnoxious mom snapping away over the photographer's head:

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Team photo time was totally cute, too. Go New England -- we may not be winners (yet!) but doggone it we're cute!

{Reid L, Grant R}

{Reid showing off for Coach Daniel}

{MESS!}

Of course our cheering section did not disappoint:

{Grant, Sassy, Blaire, and Reid}

Here goes nothing...

And here comes Reid:

This is when he ran over to me on the sidelines and said "I just need a tiss (kiss), Mama." You know I had to fawn all over him for that, even though I knew it was just an excuse to leave the field. I'll take what I can get. 

And here comes Grant:

Here their daddy is having a little talk with them about the importance of staying on the field and not throwing fits:

That was before it finally clicked that the more we acted like we wanted them to play, the less they were going to actually do it. Oh, three. You are such a treat!

And here comes Grant again:

Bay-bwaire (what these crazy cousins call her, short for "Baby Blaire") was not particularly impressed:

I'm including this one as proof that they did actually stay on the field for at least one play. And really I'm not sure it was much more than that.

Oh hi, Grant. What's that? You don't yike dis game? Me neither, buddy. Me. Neither.

It's not an exaggeration when I say they may have spent two minutes each, total, on the field for Game 2. The rest of the time was crying or pouting on the sidelines. 

On the way home, Ryan and I held a little postmortem review despite our shell-shock. He mused, "Maybe team sports just aren't their thing. Maybe they'll do better to focus on individual events." "Individual events?" I asked. "Like what?" He answered: "You know. Golf. Tennis. Chess. Math." And then I nearly fell out of the truck from laughing so hard. These poor babies. Their parents are ridiculous. 

The funny thing is, even though the game itself was miserable, they still talked about it happily on the way home: "Mommy, I had fun playin' soccer. I be so brave. I was kickin' dat ball! I a great soccer player. I had fun on my team." I'm not sure we were all at the same game, but hey, it's awesome that they seem to be enjoying it... after the fact, at least.

Oh, and in addition to their joyful reminiscences, I caught this little gem on video (kool-aid mustaches and all). I have watched it probably 50 times over the past week and laugh every single time:

(If you can't see it, click here.)

I will treasure it always -- just like these soccer memories.

Ohhhhhhhh, soccer

We're three games into the boys' first soccer season, and at this point we could file the experience under "Great Ideas That Did Not Go According to Our Plan." (It's a large file, friends.)

Their first game was March 22. We all were soooo excited. We had talked about it with them all week, we had practiced, we had an awesome cheering section on notice, we had big plans for a fun lunch at Five Guys after the game -- we were ready. Well, some of us were, anyway.

The three-year-old teams don't have practice during the week. We just meet on Saturdays for about 20 minutes of practice and then a 25-minute game. So that Saturday, we showed up extra early for the game in order to meet our coach, get our jerseys, and give the boys a chance to get comfortable with the field, the people, etc.  Clearly they were chomping at the bit to play:  

{Grant L, Reid R}

We got them on the field for a few minutes of warm-ups before the coach arrived with the jerseys, and they were all smiles. We were optimistic.

Coach Daniel (bless his heart) finally arrived, so we changed and then it was back onto the field for some more practice. Things were still going fairly smoothly at this point. (Can you detect some foreshadowing??)

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{Ryan & Grant}

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{Reid L, Grant R}

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{Reid}

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Team huddle -- goooooo Team New England!

Coach Daniel asked them if anyone had played soccer before, and Grant's little hand shot up.

The Bad News Bears:

Here's their fan club waiting anxiously for the game to start. (Sassy, B, and Blaire had to miss out due to a nasty stomach bug.)

This may be about when the wheels started to fall off -- I detect some trepidation on those faces.

{Reid and his daddy}

Every game starts with the YMCA pledge/prayer, which is just way too precious:

And then it was go time. Reid took off running right away -- it just happened to be away from all of the action. Thankfully Coach Daniel and his daddy were on hand to round him up each time.

At one point Reid actually made contact with the ball and ran with it for a few seconds. Sure, it was toward the wrong goal, but who's keeping score??

{Coach Daniel pointing out that our goal is the other way... PRICELESS!}

Grant was so proud for his brother:

After the first few minutes, they were pretty much over it:

Reid decided it was time to take a little break:

Grant stayed strong and stayed on the field. He ran and ran, but for whatever reason, never really wanted to get close to the ball.

Reid continued his break with a banana:

They got back in action for the last few minutes of the game -- notice the (completely manufactured) spring in Ryan's step in an effort to get them motivated.

Finally -- mercifully -- the game ended and it was time for their favorite part of the day: juice boxes.

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{Reid L, Grant R}

Bless their precious sweaty-headed selves.

Not pictured are the approximately 367 fits and tantrums we experienced during those 45 minutes.

Here's a little video that captured a few minutes of their first game -- if it looks like chaos, believe me, it was way more of a mess than you're envisioning:

(If you can't see the video, click here.) 

Please note:

• The way Reid runs at the beginning -- with his arms up at his chest, like a professional mall-walker. I have no idea what that's all about, but I die laughing every time. I think that's his "I mean business" run.
• Yes, there really were more adults on the field than children during the game. It takes a village.
• Yes, we knew Reid was running the wrong direction but we were just so happy he was kicking it that we didn't care.
• Yes, the video makes it appear that Grant never got close enough to the ball to kick it -- that's because that's exactly what happened.

I'll post some pictures from Game 2 and 3 next. Game 2 was about 10 times more painful than Game 1, but thankfully today showed some improvement. 

Maybe by Game 4 they will spend as much time on the field as they do running off of it to get a drink / pout / rest / cry / whine / ask when they can have their juice box/popsicle/Five Guys, etc.  Or maybe not. We'll be there every week cheering our fool heads off just the same!