Upward Soccer

Up until this fall we hadn't exposed Nicholas to any team sports.  I hear about the Upward Soccer league here in town and knew it would be fun for Nicholas...interesting that there would be 4 year olds playing soccer, but fun!

Nicholas loved going to the weekly practices.  He had a lot of fun chasing the ball and playing with his teammates.  They all got along really well and it was fun to watch how much they improved in the 2 month session.  

At the beginning of each game, the kids get their names called over the loud speaker and they get to run through the tunnel and give high fives to the parents.  It was pretty cute watching this!

There were only 2 teams of 4 year olds so we played the same team every week.  At the beginning of the game the 2 teams would meet in the center for a pre-game prayer.

Here is Nicholas getting ready to do a kick off.  Nicholas and the little girl on the left of the picture hit it off at the beginning.  They are always asking about each other and are good friends.  Luckily her mom started coming to MOPS so they still get to see each other monthly!

 Nicholas usually loved practices but unfortunately the same couldn't be said about game days. 

For some reason he spent most of the games crying over the fact that he 1) got the ball taken away from him 2) didn't make a goal 3) somebody else made a goal 4) couldn't take the ball from somebody else.  So, yes, he really did spend most of the games crying.  We spent lots of time talking about crying on the side vs. trying to play.  By the last game he FINALLY understood that crying doesn't make goals, but trying might!  His last game went really well and then I was a little sad it was over. 

I'm hoping that this experience will help hockey get off to a better start.  Can't hurt, right?  I was quite impressed with the Upward program and how it was run.  I hope that we might be able to participate in more of their sports in the future!