Game 4 - He Shoots, He Scores!

Today was Jack's fourth soccer game, which marks the halfway point in the season.  I didn't even bring my camera to the third because it was freezing and I stayed huddled under a blanket with Marshall the entire game.  Last week was the week Travis and I said we thought he was finally getting it.  He was going after the ball more and one time when the coach told him to take a break he said to us "But I want to keep playing!"  That's what we wanted to hear - confirmation that he was in fact enjoying himself.  This week we played a practically all girls team.  I say practically because Travis said he thought he saw one boy on the team.  We only have one girl on our team, so it was pretty lopsided and makes you wonder exactly how they divided these teams up.  As a rule at this age it seems that boys are just more aggressive than girls.  That doesn't mean that there aren't some girls that can play with the boys or even beat the boys, but today that wasn't the case.  We have one kid, who is unbelievable and I think he scored like 15 goals today.  Towards the end of the game he was even trying to pass the ball to the other players on our team so they could score.  Here's Jack ready to start the game.

We finally figured out how to occupy Marshall during the entire game.  Bring him more food than he could possibly eat in the hour and he stays pretty still trying to complete that task.

Jack and Connor, the superstar.

Yes, we are those parents that can't even keep our mouths shut during a pre-K soccer game.  I have to say only encouraging words come out of our mouths, but we're both having a hard time watching Jack skip around on one side of the field while the other players battle it out on the other side.  Today was not his most focused game, but as you probably guessed from the title he did score a goal.  It was a matter of being in the right place at the right time, but I'm not going to take anything away from him because a few weeks ago he wouldn't have even realized where the right place was.  He was by the goal, the ball was free and he just kicked it in easy as that.  We were so excited as if he had just won the World Cup.  He said to us "I clapped for myself!"  Here's Marshall and Daddy encouraging Jack.

Jack kicking off.

Marshall cheering on the team.

What a fun time we're having with this team!  The coach is so positive and the kids are fabulous.  They're funny to watch.  Last week we had one kid crying the entire game because it was so cold and another crying because they were using his ball.  This week the one girl on the team kept disappearing from the game to get a drink and then a couple of times she took off to another field kicking the ball through the other games.  What a fun age!