Future Soccer Star!

Andrea started a 7-week soccer program for 3 year olds through the YMCA in September. She loves running around at home and kicking the soccer ball, but the second we got to soccer, she would turn into a clingy, whiny little mess. She would do okay at the practice drills at the beginning, but then mostly refused to play the game. She did a little better a week ago – Paul said she tried to get the ball a few times, but then complained that other kids were in the way. So we practiced playing “keep away” with the soccer ball during the week, to help her understand that part of the game is that more than one person is trying to get the same ball. That seemed to help and this past weekend, it finally clicked. She spent the entire game running around either kicking the ball or chasing after whoever was kicking the ball. It was great! She was beaming and kept announcing how many goals she made. And for once, I wasn’t hoarse after the game from pleading with her to run and kick the ball. šŸ™‚

I posted this video on Facebook of one of her goals.

And here are some pictures from practice and the game…

 

 

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Her first soccer injury – from a drill before the game. They were supposed to putting their heads on their soccer ball, and she was bending at the waist to do it instead of squatting. The ball started to roll away, and her head rolled with it – right into the ground. She stood up crying and had wet grass stuck all over her cheek and forehead. I wiped it off and thought she was fine, but the red scrapes showed up a little later in the game. Despite the pitiful look on her face in this picture, she was surprisingly tough, and her injury didn’t seem to slow her down (although she did play part of the game with one hand on her cheek). The scrapes are almost gone already – I think a lot of the redness was allergy-related, especially since we already know she’s allergic to grass and that her skin is very reactive to allergens.

Celebrating after scoring a goal – they do an “airplane” thing.

And this actually looks like soccer!

Looking to Daddy after scoring a goal šŸ™‚

1 thought on “Future Soccer Star!

  1. Pingback: Looking Back at 2011 « Andrea Paige

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