soccer news

I have both good news and bad news from our small corner of the AYSO Under 8 soccer empire.

Would you like the good news first, or the bad news?

Let me go ahead and start with the good news. 

Some good news is that last Saturday the girls scored a goal!  There was lots of cheering, excitement, and astonishment.

Related good news is that the girls are definitely improving in game play, both individually and as a team.  It is exciting to see their progress from week to week.

Also, the girls seem to be enjoying themselves very much. They all get along very, very well, and really enjoy chatting, hugging, and laughing, both on and off the field.  This joy in togetherness is never diminished in the least, even when Coach Bob asks them to "focus" or to "pay attention" or to "quit talking and play soccer".

(Here we see Claire mesmerized by her cousin's cool earrings instead of watching the game during her quarter out.)

In further good news, for this past game, no parents accidentally drove to the wrong playing field, with the happy result that we had a team of eight instead of a team of six.

Additional good news is that the team mom designed a really cute banner.

Further additional good news is that the weather has cooled off quite a bit, and playing conditions are very pleasant.

More further additional good news would be that no one has forgotten their week to bring snacks.

Let me now discuss the less good news.

Less good news includes the fact that last Saturday was the final time Coach Bob could run on the field with the girls during a game to coach.  He must now coach only from the sidelines. 

But we choose to remain "cautiously optimistic," because "confidently pessimistic" is for unbelieving naysayers who walk around mumbling things like "chaos" and "pandemonium" and "yikes", as if The Miracle on Ice or Seabiscuit or Lasse Viren or The Red Sox or Herbie the Lovebug never actually existed.