Soccer

Aaron has never played an organized sport before. He loves to kick around a soccer ball, throw or hit a baseball, throw a football, etc. LOVES to bike and run (on occasion).

One of the downsides to having a partner that is deployed is you get to do all of it. ALL of it. Change the light bulbs, pay the bills, yard work, clean, and take care of the kids to name a few. At this point (well, the point was a month or so ago) the kids have tired of ME being the only one to tell them what to do 24/7. Now they have their school teachers, church teachers, and now their dance instructors and soccer coaches.

Aaron is naturally gifted, physically and academically. I joke he's going to be one of those smart jocks. And I mean it. And I sort of hate it. Because at this point he's not humble in any way. He is excited to tell people he's the fastest, kicks the ball the farthest, hits the ball the farthest, etc. And he's not a team player.

Well, now he's going to learn life is all about being a team player. There's no choice. I asked him if he wanted to play soccer and he said yes, so I didn't sign him up unwillingly. Monday was our first practice (the last blog post). That day was all drills. INDIVIDUAL drills. Today, what I thought was supposed to be a game, was another practice. Today was individual drills and some scrimmages. People were actually playing against him. They were kicking the ball in the opposite direction. Trying to get the ball away from him.

Needless to say he didn't like that. He told me he hated it. It was wearing him out, you could tell. He said he didn't like soccer.

He will finish out the season. He will not give up. He will learn:
* to be a team player.
* to be humble.
* that he isn't the best at everything.
* that everything takes effort.
* that you have to work hard.
* to take direction.

If those are the only things he *learns*, so be it. I honestly don't care if he's a good soccer player (my competitive side, the one that kept yelling at him from the sideline during PRACTICE, begs to differ...). But I do care that he learns all those other things.

This is one of his coaches (he's playing center) to slowly dribble the ball toward the "other" team. To keep control of the ball.

This is Aaron not doing what his coach said and kicking it as hard and as far as he can.