Spring Soccer

Annie is on her second season of soccer. She played last fall, and now spring season is only one game away from putting her out of her misery - or I mean being over. We were scheduled for a makeup game this evening, but it has been rain-snowing here all day so...cancelled! Annie...well, Annie, she isn't what most people would call an athletic kid. She barely hangs in there with the average 5 year old soccer player. She started off strong last fall, but I think her imagination got the better of her this season. It was really hard to convince her to play, "it's too much exercise, and running around, and how can I play like that?" is her general objections. One game we told her that if she played well and made an effort, then we would reward her by going out for dinner. Her response was "Chucky Cheese!!!". Note: I had BBQ on my mind so didn't tell her she could pick where we went, but I let this C.C. choice slide since I figured it would add to her motivation to get out and running on the field, and frankly I was starting to become a little embarrassed to be the mom of the worst player on the field...now I feel embarrassed that I actually admitted that I was embarrassed that our 5 year old isn't a soccer star. Either way - by the end of the game even Coach Justin was cheering "chucky cheese - chucky cheese" every time she lost interest in the game. At last week's game she started giving excuses as to why she couldn't play...it was too sunny, her shoes didn't fit...so I changed her out of her cleats and stuck a pair of sunglasses on her face and what do you know, she actually played pretty well! Maybe I should start believing her when she starts complaining!

Here are some photos of our girl in action - the first is her usual game day strategy, head down and trailing the pack, followed by one where she actually got her foot on the ball! Yeah Annie! You Rock Girl!