"Real" Soccer for Eric

Eric discovered soccer in Grade 1 when he started playing with his friends at school. He loved the game and wanted to play more, so we signed him up for a summer program. Every week the class practiced skills and played informal games, but Eric was one of the older kids and didn't feel like he was getting much out of it. 

This spring we tried again with another after-school program through our local rec center, but still, it wasn't what Eric was looking for. He wanted to be on a team. He wanted to have a coach, to play against other teams, to have his own jersey and cleats.

This took me way out of my comfort zone, but I decided I really did need to enroll him in "real" soccer. I found a community league, created an account, found Eric's category and signed him up.

We picked up his uniform a few days before his first practice ... when Eric was isolating at home with Covid (which he'd caught during the first week of school).

Still, he wanted to try it on right away!

Janae and Alaina said he looked "just like a Christmas elf." You might think this kind of teasing would embarrass Eric or put him off of his uniform, but he just went with it :)

So, now we've spent the past five weeks attending Thursday night practices and Saturday morning games. I was dreading the cold, rainy evenings, but so far we have lucked out with uncharacteristically warm, sunny weather. Janae and Alaina have come with me to practices (although they have been known to ask "how much longer" several times during the hour), and Ben and Jason have joined us for the games--Jason even helping out as a lineman this past Saturday.

I, for one, have learned a lot about soccer: on the first day alone I discovered that the shin pads go under the socks and that the grass and dirt on the field are fake. This past week I actually learned what FIFA is.

We have also discovered that Eric is a great defenseman--his coach described him as "fearless in the net" when he plays goalie. It's fun to watch him play, and to see all the little soccer enthusiasts walking around in their various sizes of red attire. Soccer is pretty popular--who knew? :)

This past week, Eric was exhausted after his piano lesson, picking up his sisters from jazz band, running around at his soccer practice, and then taking Janae to piano--but in true Eric fashion, he just made himself a bed at the music school while we waited for Janae to finish. 

He thinks it's worth the trouble to be finally living his dream of playing on a soccer team!