Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Small Children and Sports

We officially entered the world of little kid sports last year when Caleb played soccer and basketball as a four year old. This year we've got two participants - Caleb and Isaac are playing together in the 4-Kindergarten soccer league - AND Nolan is the coach.

Yesterday was our first practice. We have 8 players - 4, 4 year-olds and 4, 5 year-olds. For those of you who either haven't experienced this phenomena or it's been a long time - you must decide quickly to be either really relaxed or really upset about your kid who alternates between spinning in circles in the grass or running to mommy for a drink. I've chosen relaxed - but not every parent does.

Last night's practice was pretty good - we have 3 strong players - one of whom is Caleb - the other two are also 5 years-old. The 4 year-olds really have a hard time getting it. Of the 8 players, 2 sat with their moms the entire practice, 1 didn't show up, and 1 just wanted to carry the ball. Isaac actually did pretty good - except for the occasional lay down in the grass moment.

Nolan did really well with the kids - as I expected. But the best moment was when I passed out bubble gum at the end of practice.

My brother and I didn't play sports growing up - so this is a whole new world for me. Caleb is definitely a sports nut - from birth he's been fascinated with any ball he could get his hands on - and it continues to this day. Isaac - well we'll see. He's got a lot of natural ability - but the desire doesn't seem as strong. Benjamin is of course to young to make much comment - but I will say he is just as fascinated with balls as Caleb was - so we'll see.

Go "Grey Grizzly Bears"! (That's our team.)

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