Soccer

Earlier this spring, my cute friend Melissa called telling me she was going to attempt to coach a SL County Rec Soccer team. Her little girl, Chailyn, was going to play along with another neighbor friend, Kaitlyn. I asked Paige if she was interested, and wanting to grow up to be just like her cousin, the near-Olympian soccer player, Kendyl, Paige said yes! The problem was: she hated it! The first several games were cold, her shorts kept falling off, kids wouldn't pass her the ball. She just didn't quite grasp the concept of playing soccer. We mostly found her "Relief Societing" on an empty corner of the field with Chai. Once they served snacks at half-time, it was all over. Getting her back on the field after that was a waste of breath.
I'm sure other parents thought we were Satan as Steve and I stood on the sidelines screaming for her to get in the game and try to kick the ball. Steve finally threatened to take her soccer shirt to another neighbor girl, Sophie, who he had heard wanted to play. That was enough to do it. She ran right into the middle of the group and kicked the ball as hard as she could and scored a goal! (She calls it "made a score".) Paige was very excited to get shirt #11 because her cousin Brady had that number in baseball. She also loved wearing shin-guards. It was a fight getting them on, but when Steve did a practice kick into her shin she giggled and thought they were the best ever. Unfortunately that got Claire wanting to kick Paige all the time!
The "Red Rockets" had a far from stellar season, partly due to the fact that Paige had mostly three year olds on their team. These three girls towered over them! It also didn't help that even though our games were at noon every Saturday, they rarely had six players to play with! I'm not sure we will sign her up again, but it was a fun eight weeks.