Soccer Kids

I find it somewhat amusing that we are moving back to the US from South America, the soccer capital of the world and our kids are starting to play soccer here!  We joined the YMCA so that we could get some exercise and so that the kids could participate in the sports that they wanted to.  We got here just in time for spring soccer season!  We went ahead and signed both Emma and Walker up to play.  Emma has been so excited, but those are not exactly Walker's sentiments. 

Now, we didn't make him sign-up to play.  He said he wanted to.  But, he did just keep saying "yes, I want to play, but just not right now."  So we weren't real surprised when at his first practice, he cried through most of it.  Here he is sitting with his teammates.  You can tell he is thrilled to be there!  His favorite part was snacks.

Olivia got in on the fun during practice.

Here is Emma kicking the ball!

This pretty much sums up Walker's soccer playing.

He just kept his head down while everyone was in the "hi-five" line.  It has always taken him a little longer to adapt to things.  Our favorite quote from him when we asked him if he liked soccer was "Yes, I like to play soccer, I just don't like to kick the ball."  Classic Walker.  Chris said "Well, buddy, kicking the ball is pretty much the way you play soccer."  Walker replied, "Well, I still don't like it!"  During one game the ball hit Walker.  When he came off the field Chris said "Buddy, you kicked the ball!"  He was very offended and said "No I didn't!"  Chris said, "Okay, so the ball hit you!"

This picture also sums up Walker's soccer playing.  He is oblivious to the fact that both of the teams (minus him) are playing and that the ball is right behind him.  I think he is coming over to tell us he is hungry here.  We are just proud that he is making progress.  He even kicked the ball the other day from the middle line (of course, I was out there with him holding his hand). 

Emma is playing defense here and waiting patiently for the ball to come her way.  She dances around sometimes when she gets bored.  It is entertaining to watch.  This past week she was so excited because she got to play goalie and she made a great save and got to throw the ball out into the field with her hands (she was also proud to have learned that only the goalie is allowed to touch the ball with their hands).  And she informed me the other day that she learned a new word from her coaches: hustle! 

And what is any sweeter than watching these kids pray together before they play ball!

And we are really looking forward to getting to know some of the families better in the soccer league who have just moved to the US from South America!  Some of them don't speak english very well yet, so what a great opportunity for us to get to talk to them in spanish and english!