Andi's first soccer season

Last March, Andi started her first soccer season. It was a hoot, with several VERY memorable moments! Here she is at her first practice with her pink soccer clothes, pink shin gurads, pink soccer ball & cleats with pink butterflies on them. She was more concerned the first practice with finding out who else had on pink shin guards...and if they didn't how come?Me & my girl at one of her games. I LOVED my bling bling soccer Mom shirt!

She turned out to be a very intense little player. I love this shot of her busting through the crowd to try to get the ball. She wanted that ball BAD!

Even when she got knocked down, she was determined to get that ball.

She started a new soccer method. If they are faster than you, just start hollering 'WAIT for me!'

Here she is scoring her FIRST goal!

And, giving me her embarrassed face right after her goal.

Of course, if your entire team wants to walk off the field to play in the ditch that's okay.

Or if you get tired, crawling around like a kitty works nice.

When playing goalie, some good ideas are: playing peek-a-boo inside your shirt, singing & dancing OR just making sure your belly button is still there.

Doing the team cheer, even when you are supposed to be playing, is always a good idea 'GO CROCODILES!'

And, trying to score a goal or two at some point is always a plus.

Of course, the kids favorite part is really the end of the game where they get to run through the tunnell & EAT SNACKS!

Here she is making a good stop as goalie

I love that we got this on video. This was her signature move, that we called the 'Reverse Jump'. So funny. When you want to make the ball go the other way, you just do this flying dance leap over the ball and then you dribble it the other direction.


This video shows off a little of her red-headedness! 'That's MY ball!'

I do have to tell the story about her most memorable soccer moment this season. Keep in mind, she is a fiery red-head. Well, one game there was a little boy on the opposing team who kept verbally taunting her. He was resilient. He kept at it & kept at it. He could tell he was really getting under her skin so he kept on doing it, saying things like 'you guys are going to loose, you are never going to get the ball, I am faster than all of you & we are going to score MORE goals!' Anyway, you get the point. Andi managed to get through the entire first half without attacking Mr. Trashtalker, but during the second half she had had ENOUGH. She was dribbling down the field (all the while Mr. Trashtalker is yelling things), and she just stopped dead in her tracks. She left the ball right where it was & marched straight across over to Mr. Trashtalker and just shoved him as hard as she could in the chest. She totally flattened him to the ground. The funny part was Dawson's reaction to the whole event. As soon as she started walking toward Mr. Trashtalker, Dawson hid behind my back & kept saying over & over 'Oh, I can't watch...I can't watch...' Apparently he is well aware of what she is capable of when pushed over the edge. The opposing coach stomped over to Andi & yelled 'WHOSE DAUGHTER IS THIS?' I still very proudly claimed her. :-) Team work & good sportmanship are hard traits to learn & we are still working on them. I have high hopes for next season. Well, at least I hope we don't do any more shoving that is.