All the Soccer

Shane has had more soccer games than practices. It keeps raining.

So it was a surprise that Shane had his second soccer practice this week! Hopefully, he learned something.

I learned the bench by the field was missing a leg.

Practice normally starts with the kids goofing off. Some stand in the goal and some try to kick it past them into the goal.

The coaches do some drill (Shane complains and tries not to do anything related to offense/ball-handling).

Then practice ends with some sort of scrimmage or World Cup free for all.

Friday, it was Shane's third goalie practice.

I watch off and on from a distance. Shane was standing off to the side here and not overly participating.

But he did hop in after a while, so I felt better about that!

He's been much more upbeat about the goalie training after that rough start.

I credit the bribe. 

Shane hoped there was a bribe today for attending, but I said, "Nope!" The practice and resulting confidence at games is supposed to be the reward!

Shane complained a little about the other kids, their attitudes, etc. But that's his perception. He doesn't seem to recognize how his actions affect how the other kids react to him. I could see Shane lying down and rolling around in the grass at one point while everyone else was drilling (It looked like they were all ignoring him). Then I saw him do a twirl pass or two (and probably making lots of sound effects) while his partner looked to be taking the drill seriously.  

Oh me.

I think I was more of a space cadet as a kid. I got bored easily and daydreamed to keep entertained. I didn't want to draw attention to myself and stand out as doing something wrong.

Shane definitely entertains himself, but is the opposite of young me when it comes to the attention: He wants everyone to watch him or join in!

We made it to the game on time Saturday without issue. With practice Thursday, keeper training Friday, and game Saturday afternoon it's soccer, soccer, soccer!

Other kids like to play keeper, too, but the coaches make sure to always put Shane as keeper for a half.

I'm grateful! If Shane didn't get to play keeper I don't know if he'd continue with the sport.

At this age, the kids have developed footwork and tactics. 

Shane has to watch the ball even at midfield, because a well-aimed boot can put the ball into the goal (Which he usually does even if he takes random stretch breaks....usually).

Case in point:

Shane did a fair amount of running at the game.....for out of bounds shots (but exercise is exercise!).

Shane got some blocks in, too.

He prefers to let other kids with big legs take goal kicks for him. 

I'm always torn when the other team gets the ball on Shane's side of the field. On the one hand, I want to watch him play, make some saves, and catch it all on camera to celebrate again later!

On the other, there's always that danger that they'll score. The risk is what makes the victories worth celebrating, so I guess we'll have to live with it!

This shot got past Shane. You can see him jump for it, but the ball came in too high for him.

I really don't have any complaints about his performance. He saw and he reacted.

The only thing I'd take back was Shane's reaction when he saw it go in.

It's normal to be upset when something goes wrong or you perceive you made a mistake. It's better to control your reaction and not telegraph it to the world. Shane played the shot well. He had nothing to be ashamed of in my mind.

There were a lot more good moves than bad ones. I'd like to think the keeper training has helped Shane improve some, but a lot of it just seems to be Shane learning from past experiences. 

He's gotten way better at punting and that's just something he does for fun.

I did see him dive! It might have gone out of bonds, but I was happy to see the technique!

It's less stressful when Shane's on defense.

He'd love to be in goal the whole game, but I like that he has to run around some!

And I got lots of shots of Shane running!

He jumped, too! Shane chest bumped a ball instead of trying to trap it, but I loved to see him go for it!

The pictures don't convey the noises he makes, but I'm okay with that.

I do like that Shane offers his gloves to whoever takes a turn in goal.

I like that Shane likes soccer. I wish there were neighborhood games he could join.

Shane was all smiles and yelling, "Hi!Hi!Hi!Hi!" here.

Only Red 9 changed direction!

Down went Shane!

To Shane's credit, he popped up, said "You broke my ankles!", laughed, and rejoined the fray!  

I was really happy. I think sports are great for teaching a little toughness and how to pop back up when you fall. Being able to laugh and move on is big.

Shane's not big on pain. Here he had a split second and used his arms to cover his core just in case the Red kick came his way.

It's good reflexes, but in the context of soccer it would be a handball. Thankfully, the shot didn't hit Shane. There was no injury or penalty.

But later on, one of his teammates did get called for a handball in the goal box.

The other team scored off it. I thought the goalie made a good attempt. I was thankful Shane didn't cause the penalty and wasn't in the box! He has stopped a pk before and it was awesome, but those are tough situations for keepers.

Skill wise, Shane is good about thinking defensively. He's not the fastest, so he has to make the right approach to cut off a speedy player. Most of the time he shows good energy and does something as long as he thinks he might have an effect. He communicates well naturally. He'll say "I'm on it!" or "Mine! Mine!"

We're still working on tying our shoes, though.

Seriously though, Shane's biggest weaknesses with defense are he wants to do one big kick to steal the ball or reverse its course. He wants to dribble/control the ball for the least amount of time possible. If he were more confident with his footwork, he could look ahead for an opportune pass. He does that already as a goalie when he punts or throws to a teammate, so he'd probably do it naturally if he felt comfortable with his ball control. 

I like to analyze stuff. Probably too much.

Anyway, we hung around after the game. 

We had a good reason: Eli had a soccer game after ours!

John brought Dylan and Eli to the game. Krista was the assistant coach.

Eli's high energy and has been loving soccer.

John said Dylan's a good older brother with cheering Eli on. He has no interest in playing himself!

We stayed around for the first half of the game. I got burned! I hadn't counted on staying out so long, but when I was texting John during halftime and realized how close the games were I knew it'd be a fun memory.