Start of Soccer Season

Yesterday was the first regular game for Anthony's club soccer season at noon. Alex's team had another scrimmage with his coach's other team at 11:30AM. For once, these two games were not only at the same location (their home fields) but they were also on adjoining fields. That meant that Patrick could set up the pop-up canopy in one spot to shield all of us from the sun and he didn't have to move it. We simply had to turn our heads.

It was a hot, humid day. People that live elsewhere want it to rain to cool things off. Here, rain only makes it more humid. The temperatures were only a handful of degrees lower, but the humidity made it seem so much hotter. As soon as we got there, Eric started drinking water. He has an interesting way of drinking water from a water bottle. He encircles the opening with his entire mouth. This makes it difficult for him to drink without eventually spilling some on his shirt. That's okay when it's only water. I tried to help him a bit more when he started drinking my red Gatorade.

I've never seen Alex smiling like this while playing soccer. I'm not sure why he was smiling, but I wanted to post this picture to show how much bigger he is than this player from the other team. Alex's coach has two teams--Alex's U12 team (meaning the players are "under 12 years old" as of August 1st) and a U10 team (meaning the players are "under 10 years old" as of August 1st). That's quite a big difference size-wize, and you would think that Alex's team would win handily--they didn't. The other team won 3-1.

According to Patrick, that U10 team has some really good players who will likely make the top division ("Division 1") next year when they try out. He doesn't think there is any shame in losing to them because they are talented and they've been playing together for 3-4 years or so. Most of Alex's team is "new" this season. Still, this afforded Alex's team with a chance to play together as a team before the games "count". That will be next weekend.

Anthony's team played a team that they were able to score 3-1 against in the Pre-Labor Day Weekened tournament, except that the other team came back and tied the game at 3-3 for the final score. Yesterday's game ended at a 1-1 tie, after Anthony's team dominated ball possession but where they didn't score until the final seconds. There were a couple of controversial calls but in the end, at least they scored at least once to tie the game.

Patrick was pretty pleased that Anthony started the game and played for about three-fourths of time. Anthony hasn't been a "starter" in the past, but lately, his coach has been starting him. Hopefully, this is a reflection of how confident his coach is in Anthony's abilities. His play has certainly improved in the last year.

Alex likes to have a snack after his games. He and Natalie love this candy called "Sour Punch Straws" which are basically gummy candy with a granulated sugar coating--ick. Eric asked if he could have some and I didn't want sugar all over the place, so I asked Alex to feed it to him. Eric didn't get sugar all over himself and I got a great photo opportunity of my boys sharing. :)