First Soccer Game

It seems every post recently is ALL about Rhyan. But she had kind of a big week! 

Rhyans soccer games ended up being almost all on Saturday mornings at 10am. Which really was pretty much perfect for us! We didnt have to rush breakfast and it was late enough in the morning that as the fall progressed, it warmed up a bit on the chilly mornings.

Mack LOVED the game of soccer! He had a great time at her games and practices. Our only issue was keeping him off the field :-) Luckily, Daddy and Grandad usually tackled that job!

Rhyan with her team! It was a co-ed team and there was one little boy, but he was unable to make it to the first game. And they added another little boy later in the season (for a total of 6 players).

FYI, she was NOT a fan of her uniform. The shirt (the smallest one they had) was way too big for her but she did NOT want it tucked in. So i pulled it to the side with a ponytail holder. And funny thing... some of the other girls did it after the first game! Guess my girls a trend setter! ha!

The girls with Coach Henry! Rhyan, Zoe, Kendall, and Isabella!

Jeff ended up jumping in to kind of be an assistant during the games. There's too many kids to wrangle!

Grandad and Mack, playing his own little game!

So. We quickly learned what I knew all along. Rhyan is NOT aggressive. She would run with her team (usually several feet behind them) but she would not attempt to take the ball from anyone. Basically, if the ball was WIDE open with no one else around, she would kick it. If there was any other kid around, even from the other team, she would let them have it. A real help to the team, huh ;-)

And the only time you could guarantee that she would definitely get to kick the ball was during KICKOFF! But only if it were her turn.

In the first game, she seemed to have a LOT of fun, despite the fact that she only kicked it twice. Once during kickoff and once during the game. The kids were so cute at the end giving "5" and saying "good game"

I ended up coordinating snacks for the team and we took the first week, so after the game we headed to a shady area for the kids and let them chow down on some cupcakes and water. Those 4 girls ran their hearts out and were so cute together! We were all SO proud! And very grateful for how great Coach Henry was with each of them!!!

I dont think I got ANY more pics all season so let me just say that we resorted to bribing Rhyan to kick the ball. We bribed her with tic tac's yall. One for each time she kicked the ball. And that next game, she kicked it 5 times! And one game she kicked it 13 times!! AND GOT A GOAL! It was totally for the wrong team, but even all of the parents on our own team were cheering for her! How precious is that?!

And that was pretty much it for her and kicking the ball. Its like she hit the pinnacle of her soccer career and just wanted to end it there. For the rest of the season she just kind of trotted along and had fun running but didnt kick unless she was doing kickoff! Oh well. I was super proud of her for getting out of her shell and showing some aggressiveness at all this season!

I definitely think we may let Mack play soccer at some point, but i think we may go back to gymnastics or maybe try softball with Rhyan (if she wants to do anything) this spring. But overall, it was a great first experience! Our kids are at ages that Rhyan's activities dont really interfere with our family schedule and we can all participate as a family. That wont always be the case, I know, but for now, it was a great time!