The Invincibles

     Before our blogging hiatus we introduced you to Owen and his soccer team, Team 4! (I know, not the most original name, but that is what they called us on the sheet, and so instead of thinking up some new name, we went with Team 4.) Well Team 4 ended the season a perfect 5-0 with a goal differential of +35, so even though there were 3 teams in the league that we didn't get to play (because of rain-outs) I am pretty sure that our goal differential makes us top of the table. (Yes, I understand that this is under-8 soccer, where we technically don't keep score, but the kids know the score, and my little warriors played so hard that they deserve some praise.)

 Running a little scrimmage game in practice. Not to brag, but I think one of the reasons that we had such success this year is that our practices were just more fun than everyone else. While their coaches were blowing their minds trying to explain how to dribble and what not, we just played. Not a lot of talking.

 If you recall, during the first game Owen wanted nothing to do with the ball or with the other kids, well we changed that in practice, and he would get right in there and kick the ball with the other kids.

 Our second game was against another team from Holy Redeemer, and while we didn't score 16 like in our first game, we did beat them 6-0.

 If the boy looks like he is cold, it is because it was cold!

 Proof that the boy actually kicked the ball during a game!!!!!

     Owen and Beki went to Aunt Rachel's wedding and so Owen was absent for our third game, which ended up being the greatest Under-8 game ever played. We only had 4 players at the game, and so they were going to have to play the entire game against a team with 9 players. (We play 4 on 4 or 5 on 5 depending on the numbers, so don't think we played 4 on 9.) 

     The game started rough for our team. The other team had two second graders who were pretty good, and it was the first time we had played anyone else who was big and fast. They scored two quick goals, and we were down 2-0. After they scored the second goal, one of their good players, the one who had just scored, started trash talking to one of my players, who started to talk back. Seriously, 2nd graders talk smack. (They are in the same class at school, and I have been told that they actually are pretty good friends.) I blew my whistle at them, separated them away from everyone else, and gave them a pretty stern talking to, explaining that we don't have yellow cards in our league, but they both just got one anyway. The parents were happy with how it was handled and it ended the problem.

    However the coach side of me was now determined that this team needed to go down. We made it through the first quarter down 2-0, and that meant that they had to sub their players so that everyone got to play. The other 5 players (we did play 4 on 5, which my kids weren't too happy about, but oh well) were not anywhere as good as the starting 4, and so we were able to score and get back in the game. We let in a silly goal, so at halftime we were down 3-1, and were facing the super two at the start of the second half. This is where awesome coaching happened. I explained to my four that we needed to play defense and not let their two good kids score, and if we could do that, we could beat their second team in the 4th quarter. We defended the entire 3rd quarter and drove the other team crazy. Their two good kids couldn't get away and so we started the 4th quarter down 3-1. 

    We should have scored early in the 4th, but they had a player standing in the goal circle (where no one is supposed to be able to go) who blocked the ball. The rules state that if someone goes in the goal circle (it's a semi-circle right in front of the goal where no one can go in.) then it is a corner kick, so we go from having a sure goal, to having to deal with trying to kick the ball from the corner. Now, it just so happens that as a team we had practiced corner kicks, and so Nathan kicked the ball across the front of the goal circle as hard as he could, and Allison slammed it home, just like we had practiced. 3-2! By this point my four were dead tired, but the goal made them believe that they were still in it, and they went into beast mode. They ran down every ball, contested every kick, and it wasn't long before we tied things up 3-3. At this point the teacher part of me was saying, "There is only 3 minutes left...this has been a really good game, we should just run the time down and end in a tie." However the coach part of me was remembering an 8 year old screaming 2-0 in the face of my player, and there was no question what had to happen.

     With about 30 seconds left their same player blocked yet another shot inside the goal circle (This really annoyed me, because we had already been over the fact that you can't go in there.) and so Nathan took the ball to the corner for one last corner kick. Now the good thing about teams that don't learn from their past mistakes is that they don't learn from their past mistakes. Nathan sent the corner in, and Allison won the greatest Under-8 game ever played! It kind of went down like this...

Back to pictures of the boy playing soccer:

 Getting a little 1 on 1 work before practice...

 Cone drills are more fun when the cones are as big as you!!!

 Can you say spaz!?!?

 Practicing our shooting before our 4th game. Yes, I am wearing yellow soccer socks.

     This game ended up being more difficult than it should have been because they had a player who could kick the ball really far with accuracy. He scored two goals from midfield, and suddenly we were down 2-0 again. Luckily my team was like "No big deal, we've done this before," and they came over during the first break fully expecting me to have all of the answers. I had one of our players, the one girl who for some reason really liked to play defense, and I told her that she had to stay back and stop those long ones. She did an awesome job of always staying between the ball and the goal, and she stopped at least 5 more long shots from going in. We managed to claw back and tie the game at 3-3 behind the ridiculous play of the other boy on our team Nathan. Nathan's parents tell me that last year, when he was Owen's age, Nathan would run away from the ball, so I am hoping that Owen has a similar jump in ability from Kindergarten to 1st grade, because Nathan was unstoppable. And his winning goal seriously looked a lot like this one, without the tearing off of the shirt:

I know you think I am overexagerating, but Nathan dribbled the ball through their entire team, their last player was pushing him with both hands, and he scored. 

 Owen kicking the ball into play.

    If you are keeping track at home - and I doubt you are because I know that you are not nearly as excited about Under-8 soccer as I am - you are thinking, wait, you said that they played 5 games, but you only told us about 4! Well, I had the flu for the last game, and so Beki coached them. For some reason we ended up playing the team from the first game of the season...with the same result...including the crying. Oh well, we made the kids all little certificates because I thought that it would be a little pretentious to have a giant trophy made. I might get one for the house though...5-0, INVINCIBLE!!!!!