The End of Summer Soccer

Sadly, all good things must come to an end. Ethan's soccer club ended last Wednesday. It really was a great year for him. He was older than at least some of the kids and had had a full year to practice his skills (yes, he even found a way to practice in our tiny apartment- luckily not too much damage was done to our walls). The weather was much cooler this year only barely reaching 90 degrees which we really appreciated. And he was a little more able to control his emotions. Yeah! We're so proud of you! Taylor spent the drive to each game going over how Ethan should act including that it was very important to give the other players high fives when they did something good. I think he was just as excited to score himself as to run and tell us that he'd given another player a high five after they'd scored. We were just as proud too. He made a lot of improvements and we have hope he'll be a good sport in the future.

He loved playing soccer. The coach would often ask for who needed a break and Ethan never volunteered. He'd take his turn on the sidelines if asked, but he never wanted to leave the action. He loved being the goalie too although next season we'll work more on staying "IN" the box as he often ran out of the box to pick up the ball. Quite funny though and his over-enthusiasm to get the ball translated to him only being scored on once when a perfect shot went right through his legs.
I couldn't resist including this picture. Really the best part of toddler soccer (besides Ethan of course) is watching all the children to silly things. The coach of this team kept trying to get the girls to go play but they wouldn't leave the goal if even one of their friends was there. And as you can see it wasn't hard to score on them since they were much more interested in each other. In one of the games there was a little kid who kept falling down on purpose and then he's just lay there until his dad came and made him get up. It was more entertaining when he caused mass pileups and the several times he decided to lay down and stay inside one of the goals.

Here's Ethan's cute little team with their coach.

And Ethan posing for the photographer.

Over the month that he was playing we had several friends and family come watch with us and cheer him on. Taylor's mom and dad both made it to several games as well as all the cousins and aunts and uncles his first night. This is my best friend Jessica Roberts. If we had godmothers in Mormon culture she's be my kids. Seriously. She deserves her own blog. And my boys love her. We're so glad she's just down in Provo and we don't have to miss her all fall and winter.

Just one more action shot for posterity. His last game was interesting because they played another team with green jerseys too. Ours were technically "lime" but can you tell a difference? And can you expect a 3 or 4 year old to? In the end we just ended up cheering for everyone- Go Green!

One last hurrah for the other team- and ourselves- since we're green too!

And though it makes me laugh, they handed out trophies at the end. Ethan was in high heaven and can't wait for the next season!