Soccer '08

Soccer season is officially over! Bryce played in the 5 and under league – so it was funny to see the little ones out there playing with 4 and 5 year olds. Usually you could point the 3 year olds out immediately….by noting the players swinging from the goals, sticking their heads through the nets, or just walking off the field during the game. It was amusing to say the least!! Last year with 2 year old soccer, it was complete chaos. I’d say this year it was more like controlled chaos!

Bryce’s team this year was the Cardinals. I guess you could have really called them the Bad News Bears. They were hilarious! I’m pretty sure his team had more younger players than either other team. So all of that goal swinging, heads in the net, walking off the field stuff I mentioned earlier….well, Bryce’s team did WAY more of that than any other team in the league. Amazingly, Bryce did these things less often than most of his teammates (yep you’re shocked, right?). He did have his rough games though!! One game he actually spent the entire game shooting spider webs at the ball and at his shoes. His mommy nearly pulled her hair out during that game trying to convince him that kicking the ball might be a better idea. Another game he made big buddies with the referee and spent the entire game showing off for him. As we all know, Bryce becomes a crazy lunatic who cannot be reasoned with when he is in the process of showing off. Other than a few snafus with Bryce’s nutty behavior, he had a really good season! Plus, he had lots of fun – which is the entire point anyway!! We only won one game the entire season and got completely pummeled in all the other games, but the kids were oblivious and enjoyed themselves so much! Don’t you wish things could stay that way and they’d never have to deal with the unpleasantness of competition?!?

At the end of the season, we had a team pizza party. The kids really enjoyed themselves and enjoyed hanging out off of the soccer field! They each received a trophy that night and Bryce was absolutely thrilled! My favorite part of the evening was when little Audrey on his team (who he also goes to preschool with) leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. My baby’s response? He put his arm around Audrey. It was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen! Wish I could have captured the kiss, but did manage to get his response on film.

Who knows – maybe the Bad News Bears…err, Cardinals will team up again in the spring for another season full of laughs!