On an Island, Where We'll Meet: Fall Soccer! x4

Oh, where do I begin?! This fall season of soccer has been, in one word: exhausting. Both girls played soccer, with this season being Ivy's first. Maclyn fully enjoyed here first year in U8 soccer, first time with a goalie and she really enjoyed the playing the goalie side of it! But when she was on the field she only wanted to run the ball to the goal! It made us giggle because her coach would attempt to place her in defense and she never stayed back! She had a very good time and is already asking about when she can play soccer again!

Ivy also thoroughly enjoyed her season. She played in the U6 division and was super tiny out on the field. But boy was she fierce! She may not have made as many goals as she promised us she would (mainly her legs just couldn't keep up with the girls twice her size!), but she sure tried! And she gave the other little girls dirty looks when they took the ball from her. Her coach even had to tell her at one point to quit shoving and to quit pulling other girls shirts. haha! Out of ear shot of the coach, we told her to keep being aggressive...we can always reign that in but it is hard to make someone aggressive.

Finn's soccer season started out rough but ended great! His birth year doesn't have enough boys to form their own team, so they play up on a team with older boys. At the beginning of the season there was so much confusion on how to handle this (even though he had actually "played up" for almost his whole club soccer career) because the team roster was huge due to several boys from Keagan's team having to move back down into their age division. Luckily it all worked out for Finn and his team won the championship in one tournament, then he and some younger boys who played up won finalist in another tournament. All in all, I think he had a wonderful fall season of soccer. He generally plays left back position (defender) and became a force to reckon with towards the end of the season, with a strong left foot!

Keagan's soccer team was...well...pitiful. It was a very tough season for him, and it really didn't have to be. As I alluded to above, Keagan's team split over some club drama when some out-of-county boys were not allowed on the team to make enough numbers for a full roster. Several boys had to move back down to to Finn's team (because they were younger than Keagan) and some moved to another county to play. But there were a few remaining boys, including Keagan. So these boys were automatically moved up with the 7th grade team. To say they were unwelcoming is being nice. Several boys were incredibly hateful in the beginning, with one in particular being just short of a bully the entire season. Like, pulling the "seniority" card and throwing empty water bottles at my kid's head while he sat on the bench. It made this mama want to throat punch a kid. The parents weren't very welcoming either and I found myself sitting alone at games, zero camaraderie. But to make matters worse, the coach hardly played Keags the first half of the season...and this is the same coach he has had for a couple years and really helped Keagan to grow and love the sport. We sat through several games where Keagan played 6-10 minutes total out of a 70 minute game, that our team was losing miserably. And then Keagan would hold it together until he got to the car and explode into tears and say he hated the team, hated the boys, and we learned all that was going on. (longer version is the ugly has actually carried into the hallways at school...) Josh and I finally had a talk with the coach who said he had a plan to play Keagan more, that he was "earning his spot" on the team. But after several games being benched we didn't think that this was fair, Keagan wasn't even getting a chance to prove his worth or to fail and learn. To make matters worse, there were several boys that started and played the entirety of the every game that hardly showed up to practice, that was brought up to the coach as well. His response was they are needed on the field because they are good. Um, well, the team didn't win a game this season so obviously not that good. Towards the end of the season Keagan did get to play more, but generally it was because other boys were out with other sports. And Keagan was pushed around in positions he wasn't used to playing and you could actually hear the other boys yelling at him to get in position, etc. In short, it was a miserable experience for him. He stuck with it and learned a valuable lesson, but we aren't heartbroken over the end of the season. He is hoping to play for another club out of county either in the spring or fall (middle school soccer starts up in the spring - unfortunately it is a number of these same crappy boys but it is a different coach, who we hope will handle things better). I am proud of my kid, though. The coach of the new team has reached out to me and even had Keagan come to their practices. This was a learning experience, and as much as he wanted to quit in the middle, he can truly say he gave it everything he had and knew that, because it never got better for him, it was time to move on.

Here are a million pictures from this past soccer season. These are not all mine, a lady who has a bunch of kids involved in soccer and has a big fancy camera took a bunch of these and posts them on her Facebook page. For picture reference, Finn is still number 27 and Keagan had to change his number to 13 (that also wasn't a fun thing for him...)

Keagan riding the pine with some of the younger boys...

watching one of Finn's games with Levi, his best friend (and old soccer bud who moved to another club team)

Ivy was so excited that MaKenzie was at Finn's game too!!

Keagan and Thatcher going head to head...this is another one of Keagan's best friends and old soccer buddy who moved to another club team

rivals but best friends, lined up to defend each other!

These boys! Levi, Keagan, Thatcher...Best friends even if they have to play against each other.

These 5 were all on the same team last year, and for many years before. It's heart breaking to me that the club drama created this divide... but glad that they can still be buddies despite the opposition.

This was the best day for Keagan...getting to play soccer with his buddies, even if it was against them!

getting down on Levi's level!

finding something to do during one of her brother's games!

a puppy!!!

Mac as goalie!

Mac had a flawless goalie season! She didn't let a single ball go past her when she was in goal!

her best friend Kayden Jo!

Keagan and Charlee (Kayden's big sister!)

So there's a funny story here. We were walking through the soccer complex at a tournament in Murfreesboro, TN, and Stacey (there with Annie) saw this tomato worm and flung it with the tip of her umbrella. Well it flung up onto Keagan's shorts!! Surprisingly he didn't squeal like a girl but wouldn't move until someone got it off. Luckily Kasey (there with Charlee for her games) helped a brother out!

Best buddy Maeci was there too!

gotta love when 3 of your 4 beat friends are at the same out-of-state soccer tournament too!

a fun crew!!

lunch between games with Charlee

just mommy and Keagan time at the Murfreesboro tourney (Josh was in Evansville, IN, with Finn!) - Keagan had his own bed in the hotel but wanted to snuggle mama. Oh my heart.

Ivy's last game and she got her medal!

friends from church! Camryn, Ivy, and Lydia

Aunt Hannah came to watch Ivy's last game!

after Ivy's game we high-tailed it to Clarksville for a tournament for Finn

these boys fought hard for all their games in the Clarksville tournament and ended up with the W...this is the aftermath of the championship game!

best buddies Gracen and Finn

brothers and best friends!!

Maclyn's soccer team had a little get together to get their medals

(not all the girls could make it)

Keagan playing against his best bud Levi again

best buds Keagan and Thatcher turned opponents again

I wish this picture wasn't blurry. But it has an awesome background. These two are the "young ones" on the team, Keagan was playing in his normal position that day (center mid) and passed the ball perfectly to Rex who shot it in the goal. A beautiful play and assist by my kid. It was awesome, and I love that they were so proud of each other. THIS is teamwork and sportsmanship. Wish the older boys could have some of this...

Last tournament of the season: Murray Tournament. Two night games, one Friday and one Saturday...and it was a super long weekend of 7 games played between my boys. Poor Josh had to work, so it was just me and the kids running all over the place!

We had to be at the fields by 7:30 in the morning..it was about 48 degrees!!

Me and my boys!!! My favorite thing to do is watch my kids play their sports!

These two boys: Karden and Finn. They played nearly 100% of all their games that weekend. They made up the back line and protected their goalie the best they could.

I adore how Coach patted and loved on Finn. Finn was disappointed because they had just lost their championship game, so they took Finalist. It was still a big deal, but Finn wasn't happy. Coach was proud of them though, and it is evident here.