Fall Sports Season

Bryson had his first season of a sport and played soccer. Bryson was excited for every game but whined and complained about every practice. After a few weeks it was obvious that he didn't have the drive or natural athleticism of our older boys. As competitive parents and with competitive older boys, it was difficult not to be frustrated with Bryson during games. Run after the ball! He did do a good job of staying in between the ball and the goal when defending, but he didn't get close enough to apply any real pressure to the player with the ball. Matt coached the team but was at a loss for how to help the players improve. They worked on basic skills, but trying to teach the players to hustle seemed to be a foreign concept in their brains. For this soccer league, different than Caleb’s, you rank your child’s ability according to experience when you register and that’s how the teams are divided up according to those rankings. All the other teams they faced had at least 3 good players that could dribble the ball down the field and score goals. Matt finally approached some parents on his team to ask how they ranked their child. 3 of the 7 players ranked their child as very experienced when they were obviously not since Bryson was better than all 3 of them. So Bryson’s games were pretty painful to watch. He did improve throughout the season and scored a total of 5 goals. (My other boys at Bryson's age scored 2 or 3 goals per game.) 

He was so proud of his trophy at the end of the season. It helped that they won their last game (their only win of the season), so they went out feeling like they won first place! :)

We were excited for Carter to make premier since he was combined with 10 year olds for the fall. Carter had the same coach as last season. The coach really likes Carter, but unfortunately the coach drafts a team horribly choosing players he knows instead of players that are best. For example, Carter was drafted 3rd when he should have been drafted towards the end since there were strong 10yo who had experience pitching. (This was Carter's first season playing kid pitch vs. machine pitch last season.) This fall season was even more painful than spring. Loss after loss and the morale of the boys got so low. Matt was an assistant coach, but he had little control over decisions made during games. He made suggestions to the coach, however they were mostly ignored. The coach got discouraged as well towards the end of the season and blamed refs on bad calls and finally gave Matt more control because he didn't care anymore. Matt enjoyed being in charge more because he really wanted to coach Carter's team this season from the start, but the directors would only give him an elite team and Matt didn't want to be the reason Carter didn't make premier. Despite the games getting closer, the other teams were just better. So Carter's team only won 1 game and got last place in the tournament.

Caleb had a fantastic season of soccer because he had a great coach and a great team. It's been 3 years since Caleb has played soccer, so he had to put in some hard work to hone the skills of other players on his team that have played more regularly. There were 4 boys from church on his team (including Caleb), and they were probably the best 4 on the team leading out on aggressiveness, hustling, and scoring. He had so much fun playing with his teammates and scored many goals and was a huge asset to his team. They had an undefeated season.