The Last Soccer Game

It was the last day of soccer for number 6 and number 79 for the orange team.  Number 6 was very sad, but number 79 was ready to be done. I had some video of this game, but somehow the file got corrupted and won't playback on the camera or download to the computer.  But here's what happened. Luke and Addy were both playing and Luke was standing in the goal.  There is no goalie for this age, but he liked to stand in the goal.  The other team dribbled the ball down the field and kicked it toward Luke in the goal.  We were very excited that he was going to get to kick the ball!  As the ball very slowly rolled closer to him we yelled, "kick it, kick it!"  But, he watched it SLOWLY roll over his toes and into the goal.   A little later while everyone else was chasing after the ball Luke was standing behind the goal messing with the net.  We took him out and asked him what he was doing and he said, "I was taking the net apart so we wouldn't lose." 

I am glad Luke played this year because he helped us to remember that sports don't matter.  I want my kids to be good players and try their hardest, but I don't want sports to be an idol and the biggest part of their life.  Addy played the complete opposite of Luke.  She got after it and was VERY aggressive.  She even used her arms to keep other players away and protect the ball.  I'm not sure if what she was doing was legal.  She never wanted to come out of the game and showed that she is as competitive as her mom.  She was so sad that it was their last game and she can't wait for next season.

This season Luke learned to finish what you start.  He didn't enjoy playing, but at the beginning of the season he told me he wanted to play, so we didn't let him quit.  Sometimes you have to do things you don't enjoy.  If he doesn't want to play again we're not going to force him, but if he starts something he needs to finish it. 

Addy learned that the most important thing is to try her hardest and have fun.  Her team got stomped pretty good a few times.  They didn't keep score, but she knew the other team was scoring way more than them.  She wanted to be discouraged a couple of times, sometimes all the other players were bigger than her.  She took a couple of hard falls, but she got back up and kept playing.