Soccer Season

More internal debate and struggle. This parenting stuff isn't for the weak! Lehr and I offered Eli the option of soccer or baseball this season. We can't afford to fit both into our schedule; one is enough of a stretch at this point. We knew we'd have to ask him a few times because it may be a hard choice for him. However, he chose soccer each of the three times we asked him leading up to the sign-up dates. As much as we hated for him to interrupt the momentum he's built with baseball, our calendars breathed a huge sigh of relief: soccer has one practice a week and one game a week (each on their own day which never changes).

But then came another one of those fun parenting decisions: play Eli up or down. His birthday falls right at the cutoff point. On one hand he hasn't played soccer on a team since he was three. On the other, he's been in a somewhat serious baseball league for two seasons straight, so the dynamics of team sports wouldn't be new to him. Back and forth..... As we've done many times in the past, we played him up. Luckily it turned out to be the right decision this time!

Tonight was the first practice. Lehr is the assistant coach so he and Eli headed to the field right after dinner. Given the day we had, Maddux and I remained at home to maintain our usual bedtime routine (practice cuts into 'lights out' at our house). Lehr said Eli did really well on the field, listening to the other coach and showing some initiative with the ball. It seems there is only one bigger, 'good' player on the team, and several of the other kids are playing a sport for the first time. Eli appears to fall towards the more experienced end of the team, which is great. (That poor kid will always struggle with being the smallest on the team, so any advantage will do at this point.) He had a great time; two weeks until the first game.