SOCCER! Junior Shooters Style.

Owen tried soccer for the first time this spring!

Could he be any cuter?? Owen started soccer for the first time. He sings his theme song as he dribbles the ball around at practice. He is super competitive and cries when he gets scored on, when someone beats him to pick up a cone, when he gets lightly reprimanded for pushing another player in a fight to get the ball, etc. He just got his uniform and he LOVES it. Right before practice he usually says he doesn't want to go. But then when he's out there running around with a huge smile on his face I am reassured! He is learning the world's sport!

It took WEEKS before he made it through practice without crying, but he was the youngest one there, the least skilled, and he is super competitive.  SO, there were bound to be some disappointments.  I kept reminding myself that when Whitney was his age she refused to even play half her games, and now she loves soccer.  So there is hope for Owen!

I was really proud of him for not giving up.  On our way to about the 3rd practice he was like "mom, I"m kind of confused about soccer" he wanted to keep going but it was HARD for a little boy to run around for a whole hour.  It was hard to focus and learn new things for that long.  This was his first organized class of any kind!  And it was hard to keep getting beat, keep falling down, and keep getting back up or running back out there for more.  I am so proud of him for being brave and strong enough to keep trying.  Owen is super cool.  And now we are going to do city soccer in the fall because it's more low-key.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, he and Whitney both did Junior Shooters, which is like a feeder program for the Salem Shooters Accelerated Soccer Club.  So TONS of skill development, which is what Whitney needed!  She already had the determination, drive and love for the sport, and raw talent. :)  Anyway here she is playing one-on-one in blue (they did that a lot).

She and this girl were pretty evenly matched and Whitney does NOT give up on defense, so their little matches were all long!  She won more than she lost.

And sadly that's all the action shots we got!  But no fear, she made the Shooters U9 team so we'll have LOTS of picture opportunities this next year. :)

Here she is with 2 of her good friends who also did Junior Shooters: Aiden and Rachel.  Also this Spring was the greenest I have ever seen Utah!!  It rained every 3 days so everything was SO gorgeous!!

.....and one day I found Owen's cleats, shin guards, and socks in my cute decorative bowl!  Not a decoration buddy haha.

Side note: cuties!

And I decided to tack Track on to this post.  Whitney decided to try Salem City Track instead of softball this year.  

She's in pink shorts here running the  50 meters.

And here again in pink shorts running anchor on a 4x100 relay team.  She did great!  And only tried the sprints. :)  Of course I was thrilled to go to all her meets. :)