Ready, Get Set, Go!

After nearly three months of practicing, kicking the ball in the side yard, going to SportingKC games and generally jonesing for the games to start we kicked off the U7 season in style on Saturday morning. I say in style because the girls are all matching for the first time ever. My Bad News Bears outfitting normally leads to us wearing three different types of white jerseys with varying shorts and socks that look straight out of Helen Keller's drawers. Not this year. All eleven girls are wearing matching tops, matching shorts, and all different numbers. After two years of trying I've finally learned how to successful iron on jersey numbers without messing them up. Ruby no longer has to wear a jersey with what appears or is a backwards two.

"What number is that Dad, she asks?"
"That's a five Ruby."
"Are you sure? I think it's supposed to be a two and you did it wrong."
"Didn't you have a bad vision test last time?"
"You messed up Dad and I have to wear that one again."

That's normally how that discussion goes. Not this fall, we are looking good. We are playing good too. Like most leagues it was a little mismanaged at first. We are supposed to play 4v4 with no goalie and the coaches on the sideline. Somehow the game before us was 4v4 with goalies and the coaches on the field. The other coach and I asked if we could go without the goalie and be on the field. That sounded great to me. While I trust they will be in the right places a little extra coaching doesn't hurt. We needed that extra coaching as well. It took us about a quarter to shake the rust off and remember how to play. We were losing 2-1 at the end of the first quarter and for once I played it cool. I mentioned we need to do a better job of staying in our positions and that somebody, anybody has to at least attempt to play defense. You see, the glory of goal scoring has infiltrated my entire team. I only have two girls who want to play defense, my daughter and my defensive powerhouse Anna. My daughter only wants to play it because she thinks no one can score when she is back there so she does it only because she sees believes we won't lose. Anna on the other hand actually loves commanding the back half of the field. She loves to slam the ball with huge kicks and defense affords her that opportunity. Anyway, by the end of the second quarter we were winning 3-2 I believe.

Halftime! Hot damn you would never thought these girls had eaten a orange wedge in their lives. This is the first year where we actually have a five minute halftime so we are introducing the halftime snack into the game. Orange wedges were the traditional halftime snack of my youth and being the first snack bringer I wanted to keep that alive. They mowed them down like a Bin Laden Headshot at the air rifle booth during Parkville Days. One girl looked at me wide eyed while chowing down and said, "coach Ben where did you get these oranges?" She was completely flabbergasted. Like in all of her seven years on the planet she had never tasted an orange that was so good. I was like, "Sun Fresh."

Oh behold the power of something new and a little natural sugar. They came out like their hair was on fire. When the final whistle blew we had tallied nine goals to four. It could have been worse but we called off the dogs as best we could. My wife could see me beaming before the game was even over. The girls managed to make at least five assists on those goals and the only mistake we had was of my doing and it was so the other team could get the ball back.

I could go on and on but practice and consistency is paying off. I love these kids.