The Littlest Nguyen, a hug from Dad, and one very cool medal!Sounds like a really intriguing blog post title, doesn't it? Well, the devious-sounding title is really the reason for my lack of blogging lately. The Crunch and Storm have managed to completely monopolize our Tuesday and Wednesday evenings as well as every Saturday morning for the past two months.
This morning, we wrapped up soccer season at St. Francis. We love the athletic association in our diocese because the program really allows kids to learn and play sports without the overwhelming competitiveness. A lot of people disagree with that, saying that competition is a part of life. It is, but how valuable is competitiveness when it makes kids feel badly about what they do? My feeling is Why stress them out instead of teaching them to enjoy being active? It amazes me every year how talented many of the parents are in coaching our little kids. They are so completely dedicated to helping them learn to love playing a game, and their positive energy really pumps the kids up. While soccer has completely monopolized our Tuesday and Wednesday evenings as well as every Saturday morning for the past two months, the Little Nguyens have really enjoyed being a part of their respective teams. It's kind of hard to see something they love being a part of come to an end.
This morning, we wrapped up soccer season at St. Francis. We love the athletic association in our diocese because the program really allows kids to learn and play sports without the overwhelming competitiveness. A lot of people disagree with that, saying that competition is a part of life. It is, but how valuable is competitiveness when it makes kids feel badly about what they do? My feeling is Why stress them out instead of teaching them to enjoy being active? It amazes me every year how talented many of the parents are in coaching our little kids. They are so completely dedicated to helping them learn to love playing a game, and their positive energy really pumps the kids up. While soccer has completely monopolized our Tuesday and Wednesday evenings as well as every Saturday morning for the past two months, the Little Nguyens have really enjoyed being a part of their respective teams. It's kind of hard to see something they love being a part of come to an end.
"The Crunch" was the name given to the Second Little Nguyen's soccer team this year. Seriously? Really? Really. And every time I hear someone yell, "Nice play, Crunch!" or "Way to go , Crunch!", I get a hankering for a Nestle's Crunch bar. Right on the soccer field. The team was comprised mostly of kids from the Second Little Nguyen's preschool class last year. They love each other so much that the parents decided to put a little pressure on the chick who put together the team rosters so our children could be reunited for soccer season. It was a hoot! There were continuing crushes from preschool, sideline negotiations of pre-arranged marriages (Elise is HIS!), a sweet pink cast on a fiesty little girl, and no goalies! I guess we have to be past Kindergarten to learn to play soccer with goalies. But The Crunch learned to play together as a team, with the exception of Meredith & Jackson --our much-loved boy/girl fraternal twin friends -- whose adorable sibling rivalry on the soccer field made us all giggle. They cheered each other on, demonstrated some great sportsmanship, and had a blast running around on the field together. With as busy as we have been due to The Crunch's demanding (tee, hee!) play/practice schedule, we are admittedly sad to see the season end. Here are a few highlights we put together from the past two months.
"The Storm" (really, it's the Tropical Storm, but that's way too long when cheering from the sidelines!) was a compilation of new and old players. Coincidentally, two kids from the First Little Nguyen's class at school were placed on the same team, and that was fun. The Storm's coach was also his coach for soccer last year, so it brought some continuity from one year to the next. It was fun to see how much the First Little Nguyen has improved in a year's time as well as how much more endurance and determination he has in playing the game. He scored a couple of great goals this season, and of course that did wonders for his self-confidence. It was priceless watching a look of disbelief turn to a face of realization after each one, knowing it must have felt so good to actually make the ball do what he wanted it to. The First Little Nguyen was a great team player this year, doing lots of passing and helping to set up plays that helped other be successful in scoring for the team. We love this league. So. Much. It wasn't hard to find action shots of the First Little Nguyen; it was more difficult to choose which ones to include in the slideshow!
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| Free slideshow customized with Smilebox |
"The Storm" (really, it's the Tropical Storm, but that's way too long when cheering from the sidelines!) was a compilation of new and old players. Coincidentally, two kids from the First Little Nguyen's class at school were placed on the same team, and that was fun. The Storm's coach was also his coach for soccer last year, so it brought some continuity from one year to the next. It was fun to see how much the First Little Nguyen has improved in a year's time as well as how much more endurance and determination he has in playing the game. He scored a couple of great goals this season, and of course that did wonders for his self-confidence. It was priceless watching a look of disbelief turn to a face of realization after each one, knowing it must have felt so good to actually make the ball do what he wanted it to. The First Little Nguyen was a great team player this year, doing lots of passing and helping to set up plays that helped other be successful in scoring for the team. We love this league. So. Much. It wasn't hard to find action shots of the First Little Nguyen; it was more difficult to choose which ones to include in the slideshow!
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| Slideshow generated with Smilebox |
Thanks to soccer, our family schedule has been completely and utterly dominated these past two months. Really, though, we were happy to be controlled by it. Although I will be happy to have some Saturday mornings free and not have to rush through Tuesday and Wednesday nights, I really can't think of anything much better than watching your kids do something they get a kick out of doing. It kind of makes me want to be a child all over again, and it's definitely worth the time.
A big smile at the end of a long season!
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