Now it's soccer time

Basketball went by in a flash, and now it's soccer time again.  We play twice a year, in the fall and in the spring.  Mattie says she will be done after this season, which may have something to do with her best friend Hannah also saying she is done after this season.  Maybe.  But Pierce is planning to play his whole entire life, play in the world cup, and be a professional soccer player (among many other careers - he is going to be busy!).

Yesterday was Pierce's first game of the spring (it was meant to be Mattie's first game too, but the opposing team didn't show up, so they scrimmaged, then played girls vs. dads, then went home).  It was against another team that we always have to play, and they always beat us by like 100 points.  And they do non-stop fouls, pushes, pull jerseys, etc.  They're awful.  I think I'm going to ask the coach if we can request to not play them any more - he actually got so mad he threw a water bottle across the field this time, and he has never lost his temper in the past, so I'm guessing he may ask himself.  Anyway the good part of this story is that during this horrible massacre, Pierce was so amazing!  He had a happy smile on his face, he played super-hard, scored 2 of the 3 points that our team made and almost scored the other, and had a great time.  One time he had the ball & was racing across the field to the goal, and 2 of the other team's kids were pushing and pulling him back, and he still made it all the way and scored.  At the end he said "That was a GREAT game!  I'm so glad I didn't miss this one!"  He loved it!  He tried his best, luckily didn't seem to notice how many times they got scored on, and just stayed positive.  What a great little boy.  And as a proud mom, I can say that he is REALLY good at soccer.  He knows just where to be, he isn't intimidated by anyone, evidently doesn't mind rough players, and he's fast!  He's so fun to watch.  He's played soccer almost every recess of his first grade career, and half the time it's against third graders - I'm thinking that's where he really lost his fear of playing rough or playing against bigger players.  (And right now all the players are bigger than Pierce... he's pretty small right now... but fast!)