Fall Soccer

Well, my friends, this is pretty much how we spent our Fall. Soccer started in September and ended the first week of November. They had a league for 3-4 year olds and Sam turned 3 ONE DAY before the sign ups started. So, he got to play this year! And we thought it would be so easy since Tyler was already going to be playing and all...but after the first week, they broke them off and Sam had soccer Mondays & Fridays and Tyler's soccer was Tuesdays & Thursdays. So, soccer 4 nights as week and Young Womens on Wednesday night meant that EVERY single evening was tied up for 8 weeks! Plus, my Saturdays started becoming tied up with Fall photo sessions nearly every week, so it was a busy, busy time for all of us!

So these first pictures are from the first night. Sam was so excited and talked non-stop about going to his first soccer practice...until we got there! Then, in typical Sam fashion, he froze up and started freaking out about the whole thing. He wanted me to stand right next to him the entire time. But I was over with Tyler's group and I couldn't. I would glance over and see this. :)

Nervousness at its finest, he pulled his cheek and choked back tears the entire time.

But Tyler, on the other hand, had no problems of course. This was old hat to him. He was so excited to play. He played the Winter season last year which he enjoyed, but we all froze to death watching the games in the evenings. So I was just excited that the Fall season should be much warmer for those of us watching the games!

So, finally, after a little time, Sam warmed up and got in the groove. He really is a pretty good little soccer player so I was pretty sure he'd enjoy it once he got started kicking the ball around. And I was right! After this, it was smooth sailing!

So after about two weeks of practice, games officially started. Which is quite the ordeal when the players are 3-4 years old, of course! It's pure pandemonium! No one knows which way their goal is and it's just craziness! Of course you don't keep score and no one really 'wins', so therefore everyone wins! But Sam had so much fun and was so stinkin' cute out there! Since he barely made the age cut off, he was definitely one of the tiniest kids on the team.

Sam lucked out and had a really great coach. He did such a great job with their age group. And they went above and beyond and had all the names put on the kids' shirts. It was too cute!

And I'm pretty sure that any time we'll see Sam playing sports, he'll have his tongue hanging all the way out. Apparently it's necessary for him to function!

Sam & Coach Chris

It was fun to watch Tyler this season. His first season 8 months before this, he really didn't seem to catch on to it very much. But you could see some things click with him this time and it was fun to watch. He understood the concept of defense a lot more and was a bit more aggressive this go round. While he was definitely not the star of the team and actually didn't even score any goals (and actually he much preferred to be on defense which surprised me--he loved it), he really enjoyed it and it was fun to see some improvements from last season.

And let me introduce you to the coach of the year! So Tyler's age group all showed up the same night and there were enough players for 3 or 4 teams and only one coach that volunteered. So if some people didn't step up, there would be no soccer for these kids this season. So when it was obvious that no one else was going to offer, Garrett stepped up. And you have to understand...Garrett has never played soccer--doesn't know the rules or anything--but he wanted Tyler to have the chance to play, so he was the hero! The team wasn't very good, but they had fun and that's all that really matters anyways, right?! I was proud of Garrett for taking on this responsibility. And of course, Tyler was thrilled to have his dad be his coach!

I am pretty sure Garrett is saying something like "guys, you have to remember that OUR goal is THIS way." Yeah, even this age group was still struggling with that a bit!

So, it was a busy season but a fun one! The boys loved it and each got a medal at the end, so what more could you ask for? We certainly enjoyed having our evenings back when we were done, though! And a final count for the Thalgott brothers was 1 total goal for the season (by Sam)...for the other team. Classic!