Fall Soccer

Fall soccer happened in August and September. After Rachel's spring dandelion picking soccer games, I wasn't going to put her in soccer again, but then her bestie was going to try it out for the first time. So, we gave it one more go. Rachel loves having things that are for her. She loved getting dressed for soccer, she loved going to practices, and she loved going to games. She just didn't love being aggressive and playing soccer once she got there. She loved to pick flowers--surprise!--and hand them to her coach in the middle of games. She may not have been a star player, but she sure was cute!

Michael, on the other hand, keeps getting better and better. Somedays he lacked the enthusiasm to get ready for practice and games, but this time, most days were not a struggle getting him there. He always enjoys the games and practices, but sometimes getting him out the door is a struggle. I was happy to see less of that this year. If only we could bottle Rachel's enthusiasm to go to things and give it to Michael, and bottle Michael's skills and enthusiasm AT games and then give it to Rachel, we'd have a couple of soccer powerhouses!

One of Rachel's games:

Notice her in the background watching as all the action goes right by her? Yeah, classic. At least when we were at games we got to sit by our friends, whose daughter C is Rachel's bestie. Here they are together. C wasn't really into soccer either, but she seemed to get into it slightly more than Rachel.

In an alternate reality, these two actually are kicking/ chasing the ball and playing soccer for reals:

Michael on the other hand gets more and more fun to watch with each passing season. 

This fall, I got a telephoto lens. It is amazing! I love it so much! I brought it along one day to their games:

We were excited that Michael's old coach started coaching again this season. We LOVE her! Joy's husband is the soccer coach at the local high school, and he will help with practices. She is so wonderful, and we are so grateful for her volunteering. She's been so great in helping Michael grow in his soccer skills.

Rachel may not have been the best player on her team, but we personally think she was the cutest!

We started bribing her to kick the ball at least three times a game. That seemed to help. The picture below is of her actually kicking the ball. Yup, it was a big deal folks!

(This is also how I feel about my new lens! My first L-series lens! Yay! Okay, back to soccer).

Rachel with C.

We would also like to announce that Rachel is retiring from soccer to pursue her interests in the performing arts. (Of course, like all the really great athletes, she may decide to come out of retirement in the future, but for now...) Rachel would like to thank all of her loving fans for all their support.

We're so grateful for all the volunteers who have given so much of their time in support of our children in their soccer endeavors, especially their coaches who served them both with so much patience and love.