Real Hyde Park

For the title of this post to make sense, you have to pronounce Real like Reee-all; as in professional soccer teams Real Madrid and Real Salt Lake. OK, now that that's clear -

Soccer season is over. It's been a fun year for the boys. They both had really good coaches who worked hard to teach them the fundamentals of soccer. William was in the U6 age group, which is basically 5 on 5 with no goalie. The kids do alot of chasing the ball around in packs. William was much more engaged in the games this year - he scored quite a few goals, including two in today's game. Here is one of them:



I got another video that I won't share, mainly because I was cheering for him and sounded incredibly shrill. Anyway, it was fun to see how much the kids improved over the course of the season. Go Tigers!

Henry was in the U10 league this year. He played with kids who were older and he didn't score any goals this year, but he had a good time and learned alot. He played on a really good team; they went undefeated for the season. It's good for him to play with older kids; he can really learn from them. He's not the fastest kid on the team (he may actually be the slowest) but he tries really hard, which at this age makes up for the lack of speed. He has developed some pretty good soccer skills; see his footwork below (but ignore the fact that he lost the ball at the end):



So another soccer season is over. Tessa is technically eligible to play next year (as long as they are 5 before July 31st, they are OK) but I've told her she can play in kindergarten. I think soccer is a great thing for kids, but I'm hesitant to have three kids in soccer unless I absolutely have to. It's been hard enough with two; we feel like we cram errands and yard work and whatever else needs to be done on Saturdays around soccer games. That doesn't even take into account mid-week games, several of which Jay missed due to work commitments. We'll see if she's even interested in soccer when she's in kindergarten; she rarely sat and watched the games and spent most of her time playing on the nearby playgrounds.

Up next - baseball, starting in June. But we have a few weeks off. I think we'll use it to catch our breath.