Tate's 1st Soccer Season

Tate has known for over a year that he couldn't play soccer until he was at least 4. Needless to say, we were counting down for months when he was 4 and it was time to sign up for soccer. In fact, I realized that I did a poor job explaining what "signing up" was when after I got him registered, he had huge tears realizing he wasn't playing that day. I was feeling pretty lousy right about then.

So the day of his first practice, he could not wait until 5:30 p.m. In fact, at about 1:00 p.m. that day, I found this on the floor right by the back door. Everything laid out and ready to go.

Can you tell someone was just a little exited? :)

First practice. And time to come up with a team name...the consensus was the Dragons!
And here we are the morning of the first big game.

Tate played on an Upwards league, which was a great fit for his first time in an organized sport. It is a very low-key, positive environment. No screaming parents. No screaming coaches. No scores. Just learn the game and have fun.

And he certainly had his fair share of fun. Some of the highlights included getting to fill up his bottle with "Daddy's drink" on game days. (G2)

The team running through the tunnel before each game.

Getting to play with one of his best buddies, Deacon, each week. In this shot, Tate had filled in on the other team, so he & D were going head-to-head. :)

What we quickly learned about Tate's soccer strategy was that it included a lot of diving and falling...on purpose.

Yes, that's him on the ground. I'm wondering if way back when Uncle Brad (a real-life soccer coach) taught him that soccer guys fall on the field pretending to be hurt yelling "Ref! Ref!" had anything to do with it? :)

So an early goal for the season was for Tate to stay on his feet. If a soccer goal happened in the process...great...(it didn't), but to start with, we need to play soccer on our feet and with our hands to ourself. Coach Brad & Coach Chad were both great with Tate and all of the Dragons. The age range of the team was 4 through Kindergarten. That is a big range, and Tate was one of the youngest in the group. So kudos to these two guys for doing a great job!

Overall, it was a great season. Tate seriously had a blast. He was excited about going to each and every game and practice. As I look back at the tons of pictures I took, there is a big smile on his face in practically every one. He loved it. And as the season went on, he was doing a much better job of staying vertical and really going after the ball.

And he loved when it was his turn to throw the ball in.

Tate had several special people there to watch and cheer him on throughout the season.

This was a great opportunity to also teach him about good sportsmanship. I was super proud of my little guy when I would see him out on the field giving high 5s to any of the kids on his team or the other team when they scored a goal.

Way to go Dragons!