Soccer Shots - Spring 2015

Caleb's games weren't the only ones we got to enjoy this fall. Hadley Jayne got her own chance to be part of a team.

When her older brother was her age, you had to be four to participate in the local soccer association's program, but when signing Caleb up, I saw that the age has now been lowered to three. This change came about because recently the association switched from their former Kiddie Kicker program to one called Soccer Shots. At first, Dave and I were a little hesitant to sign her up since Hadley was already doing ballet - not to mention that we had Caleb in soccer and piano, they were attending Awana, and we had lots of church activities during the week ourselves. Knowing how much Hadley wanted to be on the field with Caleb during his tee ball season though and her extroverted personality, we thought it would be hard to put her through another season of just sitting on the sidelines. And, boy was she thrilled when she found out she was going to get to play too!

Unlike the older kids, the younger ones didn't have practices during the week, which definitely helped to keep things more manageable for us. Saturday mornings after we finished up with Caleb's games, it was time for Hadley to get her chance to play. With her pink shin guards and soccer ball, she could hardly wait! Just as expected she went right over and joined her group with excitement as soon as we arrived on the first day.

Just as she does at ballet, Hadley was very attentive to everything the coaches said; she aimed to please. 

Learning the command "Control!"

"Tick tock...like a clock" - dribbling practice

Making an ice cream cone with her ball and a cone...What a good way to motivate everyone to help with clean-up!

You go, Girl!

Everyone got a chance to do a victory dance once they made their first goal.

Her face lit up and she got right in there any time the head coach was passing out high fives. 

While Kiddie Kickers was led by local volunteer coaches, Soccer Shots is a franchise that reaches 33 states. It was developed with the belief that more quality children's soccer programs for kids under 8 were needed and has thrived over time. I can testify that the coaches we worked with were great and did an excellent job working with kids of such a young age. Each child got individual feedback, plus they did great interactive games to teach skills and the directions were clear and age appropriate. If you have this group in your area, I definitely recommend them!

On "Soccer Island" (the area inside the cones where the kids were supposed to stay), there was always something fun going on. One of Hadley's favorite games had a farm theme. The kids had to put different parts of their body on the ball when the coach yelled the command - "Put your cow booty on the ball...put your piggy nose on the ball...put your chicken wing on the ball," Hadley repeated after we left, giggling like crazy.

Whether doing silly activities or gearing up for a real mini game, the goal was always for the kids to develop specific skills. Everything they did was purposeful.  By the time the season was over, Hadley definitely improved from the beginning. Soccer skills weren't the only thing that stuck though. Coach Jackie used to say, "You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit," when passing out "pennies" to form teams. That phrase really made its way into Hadley's little mind and she's repeated it since then to her brothers. Mommy even uses it on her every once in a while and its been a great tool for a quick attitude shift. They also taught the kids a word of the week at each session, such as teamwork and respect, which I thought was nice to begin introducing even at this level.

Coach Jackie, the head coach, was very high energy and kept a positive attitude. She ran around getting a workout herself as did the other coaches. On Halloween, Hadley's last session, Coach Jackie even showed up in a giant tutu! The kids loved her. 

There was one Saturday morning the weather got way too cold and Hadley decided about half way through that she didn't want to go back out there. On the team picture day, she said she wasn't feeling well and came to lay down beside me on the sidelines until it was time for the photos - which is unusual behavior for her, especially when there are other kids around to play with. But for the most part, she had a blast and played hard when she was there. That said, I would definitely sign her up for this again. It was well led, structured great for this age group, encouraging, provided socialization and exercise opportunities, and was a pleasure to watch as a spectator.

But, what about little Reid? What was he up to while his older siblings were playing? He was having himself a good ol' time too. Sometimes giving Mommy a workout to keep him off the field.

He won't be old enough to participate in Soccer Shots until he turns three, which means Little Mister will have to wait until Spring of 2017 to even have the option of signing up since he has an October birthday that hits in the middle of the fall season. You don't have to officially be a part of the soccer association to kick the ball around a little though. One day he did just that with another younger sibling named Roland who was hanging out watching his big brother.

Caleb did the same, finding a few older boys to kick the ball around with at one of Had's games.

Whether the kids were wandering around, kicking the ball back and forth, or just hanging out being spectators with the rest of us, they really did very well, especially little Reid who had to sit through both his siblings games which usually had an hour in between. Sometimes we'd grab a little food to munch on to help break up the time or go check out the playground nearby, but it was so much easier to keep up with them and still watch the game at the soccer field then it was at the ballpark last spring. I don't know if it was because there were no fences to climb and red clay dirt everywhere to cover themselves with, but it was definitely much more relaxing for me - well as relaxing as toting three little ones and their stuff around can be.

We were thankful for a break when it was time for the season to wrap up, but those Saturday mornings on the field this fall were definitely a nice way to spend time outdoors and as a family.