The next Mia Hamm

After an excruciating week of waiting, Reese finally started soccer. Every day this week, she has been counting down to the first practice. Friday after work, we ran around town picking up her jersey, shorts, shin pads and cleats. When we got home, she had to try all of her gear on immediately to see how it looked. Immediately when she woke up this morning (at 6:30), she asked to put on her soccer shoes! I distracted her with some breakfast to keep her energized for practice, but 20 minutes later she was chomping at the bit to get dressed again. By 8:30 we were all finally dressed and ready to go. We got to the fields about 9 am and discovered that the photographer was not there. We were supposed to be there for pictures before practice, so now we had to watch and wait some more. Finally, around 9:30 a group of parents and kids began to gather, so we joined our team.

I tried to introduced Reese to some of her other teammates and suddenly she got shy, hiding behind me and refusing to let go of my hand. Then a girl approached with a soccer ball and before I knew it, they were kicking the ball back and forth. Once most of the team had arrived, they began practice with a little introductory game. The kids kicked the ball to each other and said their name and favorite food.


We moved onto the field and the kids lined up to practice kicking the ball into the goal. On her first try she ran at the ball and kicked it as it rolled to her. The ball went flying past the goal and out of bounds. The second try she did the same and the coaches instructed her to try to stop the ball first and then kick. By the third time, she stopped the ball and kicked like a pro!


The team we were supposed to play backed out, so we split our 11 kids into 2 teams and began to play. At first she hung back:



Then she started to get into the thick of things:


Finally, she got aggressive! See that arm bar!


I was so proud of her for playing the entire game! Her face was all red and she said she was tired a few times, but then she took off running at full speed, she never quit. After about 30 minutes, everybody was wiped and they ended the game. The kids lined up for fives:


Then finally, they got to enjoy a little snack!


On the car ride home, we asked Reese whether she liked swimming or soccer better? She immediately responded, "Soccer!" Then we asked her whether she liked dance or soccer better? Suprisingly, she again responded, "Soccer!"

Once we got home she wanted her new soccer net and ball out to play with~ I think that we may have created a monster!