Maddux and Brooklyn had their first soccer games of the year this Saturday and had a blast. It is amazing to see the improvement in Brooklyn's game from a year ago. She is still no Pele but I think she is still gaining some of her coordination. She is so tall and it is funny to watch her run down the field sometimes. She started in goalie which I thinks she kind of likes, not sure why but maybe it is because she doesn't have to run as much and it doesn't make her "sweaty". For those of you who have not heard that story, she played last Spring and when we asked her if she wanted to play in the Fall as well she said no because it made her "sweaty". However, once Maddux told us he wanted to play so did she. She did get to run up and down a couple of times and kick the ball but we need to teach her to stay on her side of the filed and in her zone so she doesn't get called for offsides. I don't think they would call it but her coach is trying to teach them the proper placement. She really likes to run all over the field and chase the ball. She is not all that aggressive when she gets to the ball and really likes to run at the end of the pack and watch what is going on.

Now Maddux on the other hand is going to be a beast. He doesn't care who has the ball because he is going to try and get it. He has a little girl on his team and they are by far the best and most aggressive players. They constantly fight each other for the ball and like to take it away from each other. She played in the Spring and has a leg up on him and gets a lot of the balls before he does. But if he is close he is going to get it. He had two goals in his first game and the second one was right in front of the net and both him and the girl were right there. She had the ball and was going to kick it in and he cut right in and kicked the ball into the goal. I have some video that I hope to figure out how to post and get it on because there is some good footage of him tracking the ball down (you will have to ignore my constant yelling throughout the video as I may be one of those crazy parents). There are a couple shots where the other kid is running down the field with the ball and Maddux is half a field behind him and ends up catching the kid and kicking the ball away. He has some amazing speed and the coach now calls him the kid with the "rocket boots". He did have one moment where he threw the ball in front out of bounds and then stood there while the other team got the ball and went all the way down the field and scored. I looked for him after the score and he was still standing where he threw the ball in. I don't think he had any idea what to do so we will be working on that this week. Maddux absolutely loaves soccer and has been waiting a whole year to be able to play. Brooklyn on the other hand just plays it because Maddux is. You will often see her dancing on the field or picking flowers while the game is going on. I have been told that Jennie was the same way and picked up the aggression later so there is still hope. Maddux already has it.


This final picture is Maddux at the end of the day. He was so tired and wore out from all the running that he didn't even change out of his uniform. He just fell asleep on the couch and was done for the rest of the day. I hope to be able to figure the video thing out and put that up shortly. Well I have to get to bed as Brooklyn's first day of school is tomorrow and she has requested French Toast and bacon for breakfast so I need to get up early.