From Fan to Player

When Sydney was about a 18 months old I remember being woken up in the darkness one morning (the clock read 4am) to the chants of "Seattle!...Sounders!!!," the teams most popular cheer.  At that early age, I knew it was only a matter of time before she made the switch from soccer fan to soccer player some day.

She already had a rich history of watching the English Premiere League games and Sounders games on TV.  She's also attended a few Sounders games in person (loved every minute of it), not to mention countless of my own games.



Sydney's first Sounders
Experience.

She may have been prepared to play earlier in her life, but unfortunately there are no leagues for those under 3 years of age.  But now that she has hit that milestone, we look forward to Monday night practices and Wednesday night soccer games.  She's ecstatic because she also gets to be on the purple team.


GOOOAAALLL!!!!

She's been working on her kicking, dribbling, and shooting, but I expect next month she'll be ready for diving headers and bicycle kicks.  Actually, at this age it's more like 'swarm' soccer, or as I used to refer to it, 'the blob.'  Positions are really meaningless.  Strategy- not even a concept yet.  It's mostly an act of kids surrounding a ball and kicking at it.  In fact, most times you have to remind them to turn around and go in the right direction.


Sydney's second annual trip
to the Sounders!

There's no pressure from us...we actually just want her to have fun.  If she wants to do it again, that's great.  If not, I'm sure she'll have 100 other interests to pursue!

More to come activity surrounding this new sport activity for Sydney.  In the meantime, we hope you all have a good weekend!!!



Sydney gets in the mix and dazzles
with her amazing skills!





Dad tells Sydney the secrets to
a good slide-tackle!

Summer Fun

This year has been extremely busy and summer shows no signs of slowing down.  June found us in Montana and August will find us in Oregon.  But this didn't leave July as an inactive month, as we recently enjoyed some house guests.

The Eastman’s (Chris, Jillian, Reina, and now Kaiya) recently made their annual return trip to the states from Japan. It’s always the perfect time to catch up and have fun when they visit. Sydney and Reina are only weeks apart in age, so their interests are pretty similar. They also tend to Skype every few weeks, so having her actually here (in person) is quite exciting for Sydney.

For lodging purposes, the two girls elected to sleep in tents in Sydney’s room. No one really knew what to expect from that. After they were put to bed the first night we were curious if they were actually sleeping. If you listened closely, you could hear two little high-pitched voices talking about whatever it was they were discussing. It was the 3-year old version of the slumber party. Bed time for most of the nights after that evolved into a marathon of requests, questions, and other excuses to be out of bed…I need to go to the bathroom…I need a drink of water…I need to be covered up…I’m too hot…I’m too cold. In the scheme of things it wasn’t too bad, but it was entertaining to see the dynamic of two 3-year olds and the logic they employed.

This trip also gave Sydney a taste of (and a little practice for) being a big sister. Kaiya gave Sydney the chance to experience what it would be like to have a baby in the house. Overall I thought she did well when she interacted with her, but obviously her attention was primarily on her peer.

The 4th of July also provided an opportunity for the girls to celebrate, eat good food, and use sparklers. They both approached it very differently but had fun and asked to do more.

In the next post I'll share one of Sydney's new endeavors.  I'll give you a hint, she's joined a team sport.  It also happens to be the best sport on the planet!  Stay tuned...

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

 Year 4

The girls having fun at the park!