And it begins. . .

This summer, our neighbors down the street that have a 3 1/2 year old son told us that they were signing him up for soccer. They asked us if we wanted to sign Jackson up too. My first thought was that Jackson was too young. I thought we would wait until he was in Kindergarten before signing him up for sports. When I told Thomas my thoughts, he asked me, "At what age are you going to sign Lauren up for dance?" Yikes! He just had to hit below the belt!! He did have a point. I'm sure I will be signing Lauren up for dance at 3, so I guess Jackson is old enough to do something he is interested in too. So, Soccer Tots, here we come!! Soccer Tots is a really neat program for 3 year olds. There are only 8 players on a team. Four play at a time. The coach is on the field, and the fields and goals are a whole lot smaller than the regular soccer field. The goal of the program is to teach kids the very basics. There aren't even goalies.

Jackson was SO excited to start soccer. He was especially pumped to get his "soccer stuff"! With all of the rain, he has had quite a few practices and games canceled. Oh well.

Jackson at his first practice. He LOVED IT!


Kick it in the goal!


Jackson lined up to get his ball in the goal.

Then it was game time. Jackson was so excited to get to play soccer. I was in charge of the video camera, so we didn't get any pictures during the game.

Here's warm up. Then the game started. Jackson went after the ball immediatly! In a matter of a few minutes, Jackson had scored TWO goals!! Thomas and I were beside ourselves on the side line! We were shocked at how fast he went after the ball! I mean, when you have Savell and Larriviere genes, let's face it. . . we weren't expecting much athletic ability! Jackson was having a ball out there! Everytime the ball was in play, Jackson had it. It was so much fun to watch!

Then it was the end of the first quarter. The coach had to trade players. Jackson came to the sideline and was so excited about the two goals he had scored. He sat down in my chair. And that is where he stayed. . .

He wouldn't go out there for anything! He kept telling us he scored two goals. That's all he wanted to score. Everyone kept begging him to go back on the field because several of his teammates didn't want to play. Jackson was just fine sitting in my chair though!

That's Jackson. When he makes his mind up to something. He follows through!!

I do have to say that he now plays through the entire game (40 minutes). Some games he kind of hangs back, and some of them he is the soccer stud scoring goal after goal and taking the ball away! Whatever he chooses to do, that is fine. I'm just glad that he is learning a sport and participating.

Oh, I do have to share one of my favorite quotes that my neighbor down the street told her son when he became upset when one of the other players took the ball from him:

"This is not a game of sharing. . . now go get that ball!!"