Second to Last Game

Team picture day!

Can you tell?

There was an actual photographer. Only five kids and one coach showed up semi-early (and Shane was doing Taekwando).

Smiling on cue remains difficult.

As does standing still.

It all works out when the moment is genuine!

More kids had arrived by this point. I got some to form a triangle and pass the ball. Other kids (including my own), built a tower out of the team water bottles.

Coach gave a rousing speech. Half the kids listened at any given time. The other time did group stretches and calisthenics.

I only got one shot of the game, before I got promoted to assistant coach. We always play on two fields. One coach can run back and forth if his team knows what they're doing.

Our coach can't run back and forth.

Shane played with Coach Dave and I had four kids on the opposite field. We got killed, but I made sure to find good things to say. The team has improved. They started the season unaware of what a center kick, goal kick, corner kick, and/or throw-in looked like. I told the kids we were going to take turns in number order and they remembered places better than I did (Mental note: It worked; Use again).

Snack was a homebrew mix of chex, goldfish, chocolate chips and graham crackers. The kids loved it.

The season is ending so much more positively than it began. Shane has made a lot of progress. I want to keep it up! I'll have to think more about what to do for a spring sport. Baseball? More soccer? Tons of swimming lessons or two TKD classes a week instead? Winter is easy. Wrestling!