Soccer

Judah has played soccer this year for the first time. He is a young 4 year old (okay, he's THE youngest kid on the team by several months) as well as the only child who has not played previously. Kevin and I were very surprised to discover that the under 5 league would be so experienced-- we thought we were getting a jump on things in the organized sports department. Apparently not.


Judah gleefully suits up every Saturday for his games, donning his shin guards and cleats, and eagerly awaiting his turn to play. I should probably mention that he is actually quite awful. When he is on the field, he is...well...kind of a space cadet. He watches the other kids, the sky, a stray candy wrapper--anything but the ball. When he DOES connect with the ball (usually by accident) he often falls down and takes another player with him. It is absolutely delightful to watch. Our sideline mantra is "JUDAH!!! Where is the BALL?!?! WATCH the BALL!" He will be purposefully jogging with the team, and the ball will get knocked another way, and the throng of pee-wee soccer players will turn to follow it-- but Judah will just stay his course, until jogged into awareness by the somewhat exasperated shouts of his parents. Then he will unconcernedly jog a wide, leisurely u-turn to find his team. Once recently, Canaan (who is still 2) yelled, "Judah! What are you DOING?! You're supposed to be kicking the ball!!!" I got a pretty good giggle out of that.




But you know what? He has a great time, and believe it or not, he loves to play. Even if I'm pretty sure he has absolutely no idea what he is doing. He loves running through the parent-tunnel at the end of the game for the high fives, and he loves the snack. He is such a social, friendly child, and so he really likes doing something with other kids, and he likes us cheering him on. So, though he certainly isn't the MVP... I'd still say soccer was a success. Maybe next year, he will decide that the soccer ball is worthy of a little more of his attention. T ball here we come!