Crash Landing

Issac began to show an interest in Soccer at an early age; when he was three he asked for his first soccer ball and began to ask to play soccer.  He has always enjoyed kicking the ball around.  As I have come to find out most organized sports are not offered until kids get into grade school but a few local organizations do provide soccer to 3-5 year olds.  As life goes sometimes, we missed the sign-up deadline for soccer last spring.  However, Issac continued to enjoy kicking the ball around with his friends and his Dad.  

 This February I signed Issac up to play soccer in Des Moines where he attended preschool.  As the practice start day approached we had yet to hear from our coach. A couple of Issac’s preschool classmates had also signed up for soccer and their moms hadn’t heard anything.  As soon as we got word that the organization was in need of under-six coaches I went and picked up the background check information packet while Tyler was at work.  When Tyler got home he filled out the paperwork and we drove down to the Des Moines field house turn it in.  Within ten minutes Tyler was able to get a team roster, select an available practice time and get a few of Issac’s classmates moved to our team. 

The team was a mix of boys and girls, mostly age five with a couple outliers.  Practices started in March with ten kids on the team.  Week three, we were down to nine kids; four girls and five boys.  Neither Tyler nor I ever played soccer.  We knew little about the sport but Issac was so interested that we were determined to learn. Grandpa Brad was kind enough to pick us up a couple of soccer balls & some gear.  Tyler spent time watching some soccer DVDs he was able to borrow from a co-worker and you-tube videos.  There is also bunches of soccer coach and soccer drill apps that we checked out to find age appropriate lessons for practice time. 

We had practices on Monday evenings.

We had games every Saturday throughout April & May.

 Tyler & I were both very grateful for the assistance of the Marohl family.  They have been apart of the soccer world for a few years & have coached before in the past.  Rikki took care of the trophies orders & organized the Ice Cream Social.  Their older son; Zak played shark with the kids & chased after balls.  Jason assisted Tyler in coaching both at practices & games all season.  They truly were a bigger help than they could know!  

 Issac was very lucky to have an assortment of cheer leaders throughout the season. In addition to Josie & I cheering at every game we had a few other visitors this season.  Thank you to Grandma Laura & Grandpa Mark, Grandma Melanie, Shobi and to Grandpa Brad & Grandma Shannon for taking time out of your weekend to cheer us on!

To celebrate their first season of soccer the kids had an ice cream social at a local establishment in Des Moines.  Each child got a trophy with their name on it. 

Soccer was fun for our whole family. We worked on team work & team spirit all season.  Our team wasn't the team out smashing on everyone every Saturday.  But the kids all had a smile on their lil faces every game and every practice. When we did have unhappy kids their sad faces usually had to do with rain or injury. We did win one game where Issac made four goals!!!   Issac is still out kicking his soccer ball around this summer so I more soccer in store for this family real soon.