Soccer Sunday

One very cool thing for kids here in the Lehigh Valley is the Greater Bethlehem Soccer League (GBSL). The cost is nominal compared to many programs, and it’s all-volunteer. It’s a short season, beginning of September to beginning of November, and they only meet once a week: practice, then game, then go home.

We did this for a few years with our son; my husband even coached.

Our daughter’s been asking about soccer for a while because at her daycare, they would pass out flyers for Soccer Shots, which is pricier. So this year, we signed her up for GBSL. Yesterday was her first day, and she loved it.

Her team decided their name is the Red Dragons. They practice, they played, they scored (and the other team accidentally scored for them), and they more-or-less completely ignored things like positions and boundaries. So a great time.

One of her friends is also doing soccer and was playing on the field next to us. It’ll be a few weeks before they have to play each other.

I learned that she’s not the sort to jump to conclusions. She told me she thought one of her teammates is in her class at school. “He has the same name, he has the same color eyes, and he looks the same. And he even knows my name.”

Her brother complained that he had to go, even though he was told he could take a book to read. I told him she had to go to his games when he was in soccer; he didn’t think that was a fair comparison as that was in her baby-to-toddler years. He survived sitting outside in the nice weather and reading his book.

Me, I forgot that I’d be sitting in the sun for two hours. My shoulders are on the pink side today. Yes, I will remember sunscreen next week.

All in all, a good start to the week.

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.