Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Zach loves soccer!

When we found out that Zachary was going to be a boy, Bryan had visions of baseball dancing in his head... As an infant, Zach loved balls and took to rolling, catching and kicking right away. He's always played a lot of basketball and t-ball in our yard, but when we got him involved in some clinics last year, he didn't care for it much. After the third failed basketball clinic (this past fall), we'd come to terms with the idea that Zach just might not like team sports all that much after all. We were not forcing it on him (he'd always asked to participate in the various clinics), but this past fall we had a heart-to-heart and Zach said that he just really didn't like people watching him, being in a big group, the loud cheering, and definitely not all the practicing! So, when we had lunch with Amanda a few weeks ago and she was talking about how much she loved soccer, I was surprised to hear Zach say he wanted to try it. I called around to see where our friends played, and called the club that was recommended. We were WAY past the registration deadline, but there was still one team that needed two more players. We were in! And the season started the following weekend...

As we showed up on the soccer field last Saturday, Zach looked at me and somberly said, "This might have been a bad idea." My first thought was that he didn't want to play soccer after all, but rather than assume I said, "What might have been a bad idea?". "WEARING SHORTS!" He was cold, but I assured him that he'd warm up as soon as he started moving. And he did.

During the game, one of Zach's shoes slipped off his heel. Coach told him to go over to the sidelines to get it fixed... Zach came off the field saying, "My team can't win if I'm not out there!" So Bryan fixed it quickly and got him back out on the field. Did I mention that ZACH SCORED A GOAL? What a great day. We are so proud of him - he is getting so very mature and bravely trying new things.