soccer practice

So I bit the bullet and registered all three of my girls for spring soccer. Elizabeth is fantastically keen to play - she just finished winter soccer which ran from August through March, so no problem there. Emily and Kate have never played before though, but I felt it was time they take the plunge into organized sports. They did bring home forms to sign up for baseball, which I almost went for  - it would be a natural really, since my husband not only played for years himself but coached too, and it happens to be my favorite spectator sport by far, I really love my baseball - but then I started thinking about it....how the spotlight is just on you when you're at the plate, and then how the spotlight is just on you when you have to field a ball, throw a ball, catch a ball....and I just couldn't see that sort of high pressure appealing to the girls, Kate in particular. So I had Elizabeth take them outside one day to kick the ball around and tell them how super good they were at that, and they came in afterwards and announced that they wanted to play soccer. Well, Kate did. Em would be quite happy to chase butterflies while the other kids slogged it out on the sports battlefields of life, but I figure she has to at least give it all a shot. Spring soccer sounded pretty perfect, since it's just a short season from April to June, and I figure if she still has no interest after that then I won't bother to make her play again. Anyway. Elizabeth's coach contacted us and she had already had her first practice and I still hadn't heard anything about the twins team. Hmmm. Hoping this wasn't a bad omen,  I sent an email off to the registrar, and within a couple days we had a coach and a team and a plan to practice this weekend. On Saturday I asked the girls if they knew where all their soccer gear was, and was assured that they did...but knowing better I asked them to go and produce it for me, just in case. And sure enough Em was missing a shin pad, which we discovered after much searching in Kate's dresser. Next I asked them to make sure they each had a pair of leggings to wear as the next day would be cool and possibly quite wet. By leggings I meant something long enough to keep their legs warm, and snug enough to keep them from tripping over their pant legs. An argument then ensued as to which leggings were considered appropriate - naturally the girls were all about the fashion, and warmth etc be damned. Pick your battle Lis, pick your battles I said to myself, and walked away from that one. So off we went the following day to practice, and in a somewhat rare show of solidarity, the girls had matching pony tails, matching sweaters and matching shorts on over their sparkly fashion forward leggings. Now we would see which way the ball was going to bounce, so to speak - would they respond positively or negatively to their coach, to their team mates, to the rain that started to fall as soon as we arrived at the already sodden field? The coach seemed very nice, check. Then one of the girls from their class at school showed up, very big check, excellent news. And after that they didn't seem to mind the rain. In fact, they got right into the various drills the coach put them through, and then it was time to play a mock game against each other. Ahhh, I had forgotten what soccer is like at this age. A little pack that chases the ball around the field with one child now and then getting away with it and kicking it towards whichever goal happens to be handiest. My fears for Emily's interest seemed to at least temporarily disappear at this point, as she managed to score one of the first goals of the game - mind you, it did happen to be on her own net, but this didn't seem to phase her in the least, nor any of the other kids.Meanwhile I could tell that Kate of course was taking things a little more seriously, but seemed to be enjoying herself nonetheless. She was particularly happy with the fact that their team jerseys are green, her favorite color. Priorities, priorities. At any rate, they survived their first practice, and so far both seem very excited for the next one this week. Now they are working on thinking up the all important team name, to be voted on at the next practice. Em's suggestion is the Bernese Mountain Dogs, hmmm, and Kate thinks they should be the Pooh Bears...I can only imagine what all the other little 6 and 7 year olds are coming up with. It's shaping up to be an entertaining season if nothing else!