Soccer

Tonight was Carolyn's first attempt at playing team sports -- soccer.

There were some tears.

like when her coach said "Carolyn, off the field" to get her to rotate out,

but she heard "Carolyn, you failed!"

There was a lot of confusion.

Before we got there, I asked her what she knew about soccer.  Not much.  Except that she thought she was supposed to run as fast as she could and dive on top of the ball. 

Once she (and the other kids) were told that you can't use your hands in soccer,

There were a few kicks.

One of Carolyn's kicks even landed the ball in the goal. 
Ah, who cares if it was the other team's goal.  It was a goal!

After a bunch of high-fives and way-to-gos, she started to like the game better. 
She liked it even more when one of the parents gave the kids apples and goldfish.

We will have to see if soccer is her sport.
I am not too sure after tonight, but it is only the first night.
And, it is a team of 3 and 4 year olds who have never played before.



UPDATE
(after week 2 of soccer)
This week, she and her teammates knew that they were not supposed to touch the ball with her hands.  And, I know you are going to find this hard to believe -- especially because I am the most pathetic soccer player ever -- but Carolyn is pretty good.  She is fast.  She is aggressive.  She could work on her ball handling skills (like stopping and turning around when the ball needs to change direction), and she still needs to learn the rules of the game (like knowing where the boundary lines are, instead of kicking and following the ball to the field next door).  But, I am proud.  She has the basic foundations.  Even at age 4, she looks like a little athlete.  That said, her team is pretty pathetic.  Thank god, they do not keep score.  Tonight, we played a team with two boys who obviously have been playing soccer with older siblings.  They just ran around all of the players, scoring goal after goal.  Most of our team was too scared or too shy to even play.