Little Rascals

This Fall Kevin volunteered to be the coach for Ryan's soccer team. That's right...coach Kevin (with no prior soccer experience) agreed to coach a bunch of wild little three year olds! We have practice on Wednesdays and games on Saturday's at 8am. We missed the first game (since we were in Florida) and the second game was rained out...so this weekend we had our first game! 

First of all, let me give you a little taste of how practice goes:

And the little brothers...yes, we just threw some food down and let them eat. #secondchild

#mommyfail 

So he refused to wear his nikes because he said they were too tight. Since I JUST bought them I wasn't thrilled to hear that...but oh well, he was fine with his flip flops. You know, considering we forgot his ball it wasn't a HUGE deal anyways :)

After practice team huddle. Not everything makes sense when you are three. 

Last week was the first practice with Ryan's new soccer shoes - which he thinks are super cool! He does like to tap dance in them when we are at home. hmmmm

So here coach Kevin is playing foosball with his son. I mean...it kinda works. 

And here he is kicking the ball on his own! woo!

And then they did a scrimmage. They are all REALLY good at holding hands. The dads grouped them together and got them to stay by holding hands, but then when it was time to actually play they didn't want to let go. The whole scrimmage thing was a tad difficult because once they did get all scattered around they didn't know whose team they were on...And I am pretty sure Ryan left the game at one point to secure a big branch which he brought back to the game. So it was a little unsuccessful...and slightly chaotic. 

Fast forward:

 Yay! It's Saturday morning of our first soccer game! 

Opening the game up with the Pledge of Allegiance. I am not sure if this is standard soccer procedure (nor do the kids know the pledge of allegiance) but the dads all thought it seemed appropriate. 

And game time...there is Charlie taking off for another goal!

Ryan enjoyed hanging with his little bro

Halftime cheer! Ryan is #2

Happy boy! He can't wait to get out on the field!

Lots of dads...lots of hand holding! Here is a little highlight reel for ya:

- It's hard to actually get five kids out there to play (there are only about three kids on the team that "get it")

- Dads stay close for a couple of reasons:

1. to hold their kids hand (and make sure they don't run off the field)

2. to make sure their kid is running the correct direction

3. to pick them up in the occurrence of a pileup

4. to place them in front of the ball going the right direction (kinda like foosball)

Ryan is actually running (without Kevin holding his hand in the pic above). One way to encourage his participation was bribery. Yup, thats right. We used his new Rangers potato head as a bribe. We told him he had to play if he wanted us to actually open it. Yes, he had it in the plastic box all night long (he slept with it) and in the morning. It truly motivated him to play...not sure what will work next week! lol!

Apparently this game was much better than the first. All the moms said that it was much better not having referees (they didn't have enough for some reason) because the kids were somewhat scared of them...blowing their whistles and what not. Plus they stopped the game every time the ball went out of bounds...which happens a lot! Anyhow, I would say that from the beginning of the game to the end the kids all improved about 100%. 

And you might think this was after the game...but it was during. Henry and Ryan decided hanging out with the little kiddos was actually more fun than playing soccer!

 Despite my pictures, Ryan actually did get in there a little bit and enjoy himself. I am not sure he made contact with the ball, which is fine, but he definitely got some running in. He really likes it when you cheer for him! He smiles real big! Super cute! I had so much fun watching the game and I know that Ryan loves it because he gets to play with his dad. 

We also celebrated his first game (and win*...but whose keeping track, right?) with donuts! Yay! 

*I actually had no idea we won but coach certainly did! He said between Finley, Charlie and Ford we scored like 10 goals! woah!