Soccer Season 2008

Saturday was the boys last soccer game....

Here are some pictures and memories from

Soccer Season 2008

Benjamin #11

This was Ben's first year playing soccer. He was actually a little young for the team (just by a few days) but he'd been watching his brothers play for the past couple years and we knew he'd be heartbroken if he had to sit out another season. When I registered him online I had to put a birth date different than was on his birth certificate in order for it to go through. Several weeks into the season we got an e-mail from a member of the board because of the conflicting dates. We were a little nervous that they wouldn't let him play because of his age. This is the response that Aaron sent back to him (I thought it was pretty cute)-by the way I hadn't told Aaron about having to adjust Ben's birth date online to get him on the team :

Jacque,
Sorry for the mistake, I didn't do the registration, so I don't know what happened. Is it a problem that he's underage by a few days? Please advise the board of the fact that he scored 5 of his teams goals on the U5 team this last Saturday which shows that his ability to play is not diminished because he's younger. He's a very feisty and aggressive little guy and very good at Soccer as he is always playing with his two older brothers that are both in SKSL.

Let us know what the board says.
Thanks,
Aaron

Benjamin in Action

Well, as you can see they let him stay with the team. I think he had a lot of fun playing and really enjoyed the fact that he had his own soccer practice and games like his older brothers. At his game we noticed Ben would get really bashful every time he'd score a goal. Even though we'd all be hooting and hollering he'd never jump up or act like he was excited. He'd just bashfully walk away from the goal suppressing a smile as he'd look at us from the corner of his eye. He did this all season long and it cracked us up every time. Also, when we wanted him to score a goal we'd yell from the sidelines, "Your brothers are watching you!" and he'd almost always kick it up a notch and try to make a goal. It was really funny.

Joseph #22

Joseph played on the U-7 team this year with Jacob. Having both boys on the same team made it a lot easier for us (what am I saying......it was still crazy) but it did have its drawbacks for him. Since he 's only 5 and was playing with 6 and 7 year olds it was obviously more challenging. I worried that he would get frustrated about not scoring as much as he did last year but he had a really good attitude about it and was a smiley boy the whole season. It was kind of hard for Aaron and I because we knew he'd be getting a lot more time with the ball if he was playing with kids his own age . Sometimes I think he got frustrated that he wasn't scoring as many goals as he had at games last year but we just tried to focus on the other things he was doing to help his team (he was an excellent defender). We're still trying to decide what we want to do next year. We certainly don't want Joseph to feel like he's in Jacob's shadow. Being on his own team would be better for his self esteem but we also really don't want to have 3 boys on 3 separate teams with three soccer practices and 3 games to go to on Saturdays. It stresses me out just thinking about it.

Joseph in Action

Jacob #23

This was Jacob's third year playing soccer and it was so fun to see him improve. He is a very fast, high scoring player and is really getting good at dribbling the ball down the field instead of just booting it toward the goal (which is something he always used to do). It was also fun to see the kids pass to each other and start to work more as a team. Jacob loves soccer and always gives 100% when he's out there playing. Its funny to see the difference between the boys because when Ben scores a goal he is modest and bashful.....Jacob, (as you can see in some of the pictures) proudly throws his hands up into the air in victory, (not a modest bone in his body). Jacob and Joseph's team name was the Jets and they had a really cute cheer that they used from last year it went like this: "J-E-T-S....Jets, Jets, Jets!!!" Jacob is still very competitive and always knows what the score is (even though at this age, they try not to focus on which team wins). At the end of every game he tells us how many goals he had-not like we weren't counting on the sidelines. (: It's really fun to see him playing out there and doing something that he loves. The picture in the bottom right corner was a lucky shot that I just happened to catch.....He was so happy that they beat the other team he picked up his brother in his excitement.

Jacob in Action

One thing that the boys really look forward to is the end of season party at their coach's house. Here is a clip from Jacob and Joseph's team party (they are sitting next to each other on the left). Ben's party was on Sunday during church so Aaron asked Joe (the Jets coach) to present Ben his trophy at his brothers party to make it more "official." Unfortunately the battery on our camcorder died and so we missed him getting his trophy. This video clip is from our camera which I figured out a little later.