Orange Tops & Colored Socks

Soccer is a sport that my three younger boys totally love! This year's season started and ended a little later than in years past, and Kanyon was so stressed and worried in May because he thought that we'd missed it! Soccer started the last week of May (which was also the last week of school), and it was finished the second week of July. 

This year, the Association purchased new jerseys with the dues, and each child got to keep the jersey when the season was done. Jonah and Micah were in the U-11 league, and were on the same team. Their team's color was orange. They named their team the Savages (that's our high school mascot, and one of the high school's colors is also orange). There were 5 teams in their league, and they had the most disadvantaged team of them all: they had more girls than any other team (they had 5 and the other teams had 2 or 3), they had 3 young players from 3rd grade (they had only one older 5th grader, and the other teams had multiple older players and some had players from 6th grade), and they had 2 disadvantaged players. Throughout the entire season, they only won one game. They played their hearts out, and I was so proud of them for giving their best effort. Their games were in the evening, and often it was super hot and several players were gone so the kids that came had to play the majority of the hour-long games. 

Jonah's favorite position to play was forward, and he was good at it. He scored many goals throughout the season for his team! It was so exciting to watch him score and help his team out! Jonah traditionally wore blue socks during his games (the different colored socks helped his teammates and spectators know who was who!).

Jonah

One game he played goalie, but he didn't enjoy it as much

Micah liked playing the position of defender. He also played goalie in several of the games. He was fast, and liked defending the ball. It was exciting to see when he blocked the other team from scoring! Micah liked wearing different colored socks for every game (he loves bright colors!), and this helped others recognize him apart from his twin brother Jonah.

Micah

I love the facial expressions & body language in this photo!

Kanyon was on the U-9 league. His team was also orange! They called themselves the Flames. There were only 3 teams in his league, so they got to know the other teams pretty well. He had a great team, and awesome coaches. He really enjoyed working with his teammates, and they won more games than they lost! It was so fun to watch the little kids that are in 1st and 2nd grades play the sport so well.

Kanyon liked playing forward and goalie. The coaches did a good job of rotating players in all the positions, so he got to play both positions in almost every game. He just loved soccer! He was so good at kicking, and blocking, and turning the ball around. His coach told me that she appreciated that when she gave directions, he listened, and always tried his hardest, and it showed! Kanyon also loved wearing brightly colored long socks (you might recognize one pair that he also wore to my sister's wedding!).

Kanyon

Wow!!! BIG kick!

One of the hardest tasks for him was to throw the ball
from above his head using both hands, but by the end
of the season, he'd mastered it!

As with all the sports that the boys do, it was fun while it happened, but we were all glad when it was done, too! I've decided that 6-8 weeks is the perfect amount of time for young kids' sports. It's long enough for them to improve, but short enough that they (and us) don't get tired of it!