This year is the first that Jameson has had “real” games against another team in soccer. I was able to capture his first game of the season (after just about 3 practices), which was great since he was more easily distracted in future games. I guess the novelty wore off a bit!

He didn’t stop to pick flowers during the game thankfully. But he did try doing cartwheels a few times, or staring off into space. Kids are hilarious!

First they “warmed up” by running around the outside of their field, which was smaller than a regular sized soccer field. We had adult coaches this time, as opposed to last fall, and they offered a bit more structure to our experience this time.

Before starting the game, the kids had to point to where their net was. It was pretty difficult for most of the kids to get the ball turned around when it wasn’t going the right away (or they’d forget), so some goals were made for the other team. There was no keeping score though and everyone had fun!

They rotated the kids pretty frequently, and when they weren’t playing they sat on the sidelines and picked grass.

Coraline enjoyed watching the games too, and pretty much ate snacks for the full hour we were there in the evenings two days a week (which were right around dinner time).

Jameson got pretty into it in the first game, but got a little more timid as the season wore on. They rotated the kids that got to start the game and throw the ball in from out of bounds or do a “penalty” kick. All in all, I was very happy with the participation that Jameson got to experience. We even got our first sports photos, which were hilariously posed.

The games ended with a team cheer and snacks (the best part!)

And of course we did the “good game” high five with the other team. There were three other teams we played over the month or so we played. It was difficult a few weeks in May because of Brian and I being out of town at times, but we made it to all of the games!

We did decide after it was over that we’re done with weeknight evening activities for a bit, so we’ve picked back up swimming lessons instead that start in a couple weeks but only on Saturday mornings. Coraline will get to experience the first lessons with me, and Jameson is able to go to his level at the exact same time which worked out so nice. We really hope to spend more time in the water this year!