Soccer for Two

Until about a month ago, I had never owned a soccer ball. I thought bowling balls were the only sports balls that had "sizes". I had never laid eyes on soccer shin guards, either. Catcher shin guards, yes. Soccer, no. I even had a short stint wearing catcher shin guards in high school until my coach found out I could stretch a mile to catch a bad throw to first base. (This skill developed early by being willfully determined to catch EVERY “bet you can’t catch this” throw my brother would whirl at me.) I had no idea shin guards were part of a soccer uniform and that EACH player had to wear them. Growing up in my Southern small town, we were all about baseball and football. "Pee Wee" they called it. As a business owner, you might as well have closed your doors for good if you didn’t sponsor a team. This meant paying for the kids’ uniforms which would have your businesses’ name splattered across the front making sure everyone knew you had done your part and that it was okay to keep trading with you. Soccer was for the “city folk” --anyone who lived north of us. It just wasn’t on our radar. When I moved to Fort Worth and made my way to Benbrook one Saturday morning, I found out more kids played soccer than were in my entire elementary school! Fifteen years later, we purchased our first soccer balls (one pink, one blue) and shin guards.

So, here they are playing for the Timbers and the Expos in Upward Soccer sponsored by our church, Alliance Community Fellowship. Since Jeff coached B's T-ball team, he opted to coach Julia's soccer team which significantly boosted her confidence playing her first organized sport. Brighton is as focused and determined as he was in T-ball. The pictures say it all. Every expression I have captured screams "intensity". He is completely offended if you yell to remind him which goal is his and will fight to the death to get a chance at the ball. Julia? Well, she looks adorable in her knee socks.

One more thing-- there is something very wrong, bordering on scandalous, about a soccer game at 8 am on Saturday morning. I haven’t found grounds for protesting it yet, but I will not give up looking.