Unnatural Athlete?

I've said time and again that Bryce is a product of my genes in so many ways.  While people always point out that he has Jason's coloring, it's not totally "Jason's" since my brother and sister were also very blond and blue eyed too.  But other than the coloring, he is just.so.my family.  He's got my family's teeth/jaw (which is good since we didn't need orthodontics).  He's totally built like my brother to the point that I sometimes will call him Kevin - it's weird, I tell you.  He has my brother's hands and feet!  He is just so solid - something Jason was NOT.  Jason was tall, skinny, and spindly by age 7. I don't get the feeling Bryce is going to be terribly tall given that Piper has been taller at every age than he was.  Plus, if you look at him among his classmates, he is not one of the taller kids.  He's also a lot like my brother in that he's just such a lovable guy - just so touchy-feely and huggable.  He's loud like my brother was too.  Again things that Jason says he was not but I remember my brother being keenly.  He was a funny kid.  I adore my little brother so I guess that's why I love that Bryce is so much like him.  But unfortunately, with all these great genetics goes something that my family is kind of a low scorer in....sports.  I never had interest.  My mom never did either.  My dad played sports in high school but then, didn't everyone in small town America in the 1960's?  My sister is the most athletic of all of us but didn't really blossom until late high school and she's quite active now but didn't do any kind of team sports as a kid.  We all played musical instruments and were on academic/school involvement type activities.  My brother played a season of indoor soccer and two seasons of baseball before giving it up for Boy Scouts.  He did play some golf in high school and was pretty good but then, it's golf.  Very different than a team sport.  

Jason, on the other hand, played lots of sports.  Soccer and baseball and loved it.  He was decent too so I know he was hoping that Bryce would have the same ability.  And while we're only 2 years in, it's apparent he doesn't have the natural ability that other kids on the teams do.  However, he LOVES playing so we'll keep encouraging him.  I know a lot of what he loves about it is doing it with Jason.  They are definitely "buds" and he looks forward to the time they spend together.  (Even if it takes him forever and a lot of help to get into his uniform, right, Jason?)  He also loves being a part of a team and it almost brings me to tears to see him congratulating his fellow teammates and cheering them on.  He's always the first one to meet a teammate to tell him "great job" or "nice hit."  He loves hooting and hollering and gets into the game in that respect.  He'll give me a play by play after a game and loves telling me his perspective although I know a lot of his opinion is based off of what Jason says.  (Which is pretty cute in and of itself...he loves his daddy!)  

But what makes me sad is how hard he tries and how he's just not as successful as you'd hope he'd be.  Last night he mistakenly threw a ball he caught to first instead of third (he misheard Jason who was coaching out in left field).  He turned and kind of cried a little bit and hugged Jason.  That just about broke my heart.  But he recovered and went on.  He loves it and I'm happy he's continuing to do it.  He's clearly getting a lot out of it and I hope that if he keeps enjoying it that he'll get better too.  In soccer, especially, you can see he just lacks that "killer" instinct needed to really do well.  But he's only 7, so I'm not dooming him to athletic failure. I know Jason's continued support is a big factor for him and I know as long as Bryce wants to do it, he'll keep on helping out.  Jason has such great memories of the time he and his dad spent on the athletic fields together, I know Bryce will too.  Just keep on trying, buddy!  I love you so much and I am so proud of you!

Now the big question is what to do about the girls for the fall.  Caroline says she wants to play soccer and now Piper is saying that too.  However, when I told them it means they can't do any other activities (1 activity per kid is more than enough for what we can manage - heck, I don't know if we can manage that!!) they kind of got upset.  I do not want to get into the whole dance thing since it's a school year long commitment instead of half year/seasons like sports and I'm not a fan of the whole "girls in dance" thing.  I also know how fickle they can both me, especially Caroline.  And then you add in the fact that there are 3 kids, 2 parents with the potential to have some nights where 3 kids need to be in 3 places.  How the hell do people do this?????  I will not coach either.  (See the above part where I talk about my family's lack of athletic skill.)  I feel like we are barely keeping our heads above water right now with 1 kid in a sport that's a 3 hour/night, 2 nights a week commitment.  This is why I loved gymnastics - I could get both girls in at the same time and only go one place.  Then the damn place went bankrupt...I need to find a new place, perhaps.    I also saw at the new elementary school that they have a bunch of after school clubs for older kids and when I mentioned them to Caroline she got all excited.  One was a running club and the other was a math/science type.  Those would be perfect too.  Now I know why my parents had us in music lessons - that was our one activity and they just had to cart us to one lesson a week for an hour.  Well, aside from the fact that they wanted us to play an instrument.  I'm still trying to convince Caroline she should play guitar.  You know, like Taylor Swift.  She loves country music (yes, my child!) and makes up her own songs already.  Natural fit, plus the guitar is kind of awesome.  But no kid can see that.  

Okay, I need to stop the ADD type rambling.....3 kids, 3 activities, and a full time job - I don't know how we'll do this.

Late Soccer

Jason finally got Bryce's soccer schedule last night.  After being told that he'd mainly have Saturday morning games we were a little surprised to see so many weeknight evening games.  We did them last year so that's not such a big deal but what I was concerned about was that FOUR of them are starting at 7:45pm on school nights!!!  Yep, 6-8 year old soccer with 7:45pm game start times.  Am I the only one that thinks this is problematic???

8 and older, maybe, but 6-8 seems a bit young.  Last year in the 6 and under clinic, they all started around 6 or 6:30.    And to add fire to my flame, he has a few games that are two days in a row, so a Tuesday night 6pm game and then a Wednesday night 7:45pm game.  What the heck?  (And mind you, we JUST got the schedule yesterday....typical for rec league and their lack of organization to get anything together sooner.)

Jason just shrugged his shoulders and asked "What are you going to do?"  And I guess he's right because while Bryce plays for one particular league, his games incorporate about 5 different leagues so basically it's not like we'd find another rec league in the general area that would have a better, more organized game schedule.

The girls actually start gymnastics this Saturday and I was able to get both of them in to 9am classes so we'll be done and out of there by 10am each week.  Bryce's sporadic Saturday morning games range in start times from 9:30 to noon.

I guess I shouldn't complain too much because the park where they have the games is fairly close to us and not a half hour away like it might be for some of other kids in other leagues.  And the place we take the girls to gymnastics isn't too far away either so on his early Saturday game we'll be able to scoot down the road to catch the end of the game.

Not that I'm planning to go to the 7:45pm games....Piper would be toast.  I guess those will be Jason/Bryce attended games only.  Thankfully there are enough Saturday and 6pm weeknight games that I won't feel bad missing the late ones.

If he's playing at 7:45pm, I can only imagine how late some of the older kids might be playing.  I guess we'll find out in 2 years, huh?

GOAL Playback

Here are two short videos from Uncle Jesse of Bryce's goal last week....the goal is only 6 seconds so Jesse just managed to get it!  The second is all his high fives to his team.  Just so cute! The expresion on his face is priceless.  Thanks to Jesse for capturing this!

On the Way to Indoor!

Bryce finished up his regular, outdoor soccer season in early November and we figured that was it until next fall.  Jason had gotten the indoor flyer but assumed Bryce wasn't really going to be interested and didn't say anything about it to him.  Then they went to the season ending party and Bryce heard about indoor soccer for winter and was alllll ready to do it!  Given his interest, of course we'll do it.  Jason took him last night to registration and his practices will start next week and games will start after the holidays.  I was really pleased by the fact that Bryce WANTED to do this rather than just being herded into it.  It shows how much he enjoyed playing in the fall.  Because he wasn't 6 until after August 1, he still qualifies for clinic, which is good because it is all about learning and having fun.  I could tell Jason was happy about him wanting to play too.  Bryce's first reaction about playing indoor is that at least the games won't get rained out.  Of course then I told him they could be snowed out, but it's less likely than the rain.

As for Caroline, she's still saying she wants to do ice skating lessons.  I wanted to sign her up in the fall but the way the rink does the lessons the fall was the final session for skaters who had been taking lessons all year. The winter is when everything starts over and she can start as a beginner.  Who knows how this will play out, but I want to give her the chance.  Here's hoping my neighbor's daughter is still interested and maybe we can share carpooling.

Soccer Game

Bryce had his first soccer game tonight.  He's been practicing for about a month now but this was his first game.  My parents and Jason's parents all came to witness the occasion.  Bryce is doing the 4-6 year old clinic so it's a lot of watching kids run around after the ball, but they're learning and having a good time and that's all that matters.  Here he is warming up: (not many kids had gotten there yet)

All charged up and ready to go:

Bryce throwing the ball in - Jason was so proud of how well he did -they'd never really practiced it:

At some point in the 2nd half, Bryce got put in as the goalie.  This is Bryce's dream come true - to be just like Jason!  He actually did pretty well and had several saves!  Here he is as the team/ball/crowd of kids is approaching.  Don't you love the pose?

Ready to receive the ball - Jason told him later it was okay for him to come out a little and get it:

His team ended up winning 5-0.  Jason said he was surprised how well the team played given what he's seen in practice.  Clearly the game got them in a different mindset.  Bryce kept remarking that his team had "5 scores!"  Goals, Brycey, goals.