At this time last year, we were getting ready to start Eli's first golf season. He enjoys golf, and he was very excited to have the opportunity to work more on his game, but truth be told, a spot on the golf team was a runner-up prize. After spending many afternoons on the fields of his middle school, attending every pre-tryout workout they offered, he had a week of official tryouts with no callback: he didn't make the team. And had he known that he wasn't going to make it, he may have played in the rec league, as he has since he turned 4, but the sign-ups and evaluations for that team passed prior to this. At the end of the day, Eli had a great golf season and really enjoyed all the practices and matches.
With no baseball last spring, Eli returned to rec soccer and really found a new passion. He played again this last fall, and when tryouts came up last week, he picked soccer over baseball, without hesitation. We talked through the tryouts each day, with Eli reporting how he'd performed and his perceived ranking in the pool of players. At the end of the week-long tryout, Eli was rewarded with a spot on the team. He was elated!
After only a few practices, the boys had their first game during which Eli had an assist! After the game, the coach picked three captains for the next game, Eli being one of them. What a huge honor! Since then, he's started many games, played more minutes than he hasn't, had a few shots on goal, and made some great connections with his fellow players, all while improving his overall skill. Eli is not the fastest kid, but he's learning how to use his sprinting speed and his (smaller) size to his advantage.
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