Nolan Summer Soccer!

Nolan decided that he wanted to play soccer again this summer! After playing his first season this past Spring, he learned a lot and grew in confidence. So we wanted to keep a good thing going. 

We bought Nolan some cool new cleats for a fun new season. He loves that you can change the color of the Nike swooshes on the sides! Here they are posing at the Field House before his first practice. The summer season is played indoors, which was really nice, especially when on some Saturday mornings it was over 80 degrees at 9 o'clock in the morning. 

This season, Nolan had a GREAT coach! He was fun and knowledgable and experienced. His name was Coach Scott, but for the first few weeks, Nolan was convinced his name was "Coach Spot"! 

They always started each practice with a little motivational talk and some stretching. 

 Then they moved onto some drills. 

They also scrimmaged each other. 

And after the first few weeks they played "games" against the other team. 

Nolan had a fun season and really enjoyed going each week. 

He grew a lot in his ball handling skills and only had a moment or two of nervousness, once when he kicked the ball out of the game and once when he lost the girl he was supposed to be defending. 

And he ran so hard each game! He still isn't the most aggressive kid, but he worked so hard. He always got a bunch of good kicks each game and was so proud when he got his first breakaway and shot on the goal. He didn't score a real goal in the actual games, but he was a great teammate and often attempted some good passes. 

Each week we came up with a goal that he would work towards before practice and each week he focused and accomplished the goal. We were so proud of him! 

Team pictures on the last day.

The last practice the parents got to play against the kids. Since Mark was at t-ball with Heath, I was on Soccer duty! I'm not the most aggressive person either, but I had so much fun playing against my boy. I might not always love sports, but I am competitive in some ways. And 5 year old soccer was just the perfect level of athleticism for me! Nolan loved trying to bump me out of the way during the game. I told him that's what he needs to do in the real games. Ha! 

Mark, Heath, Oma, & Opa joined us after t-ball. I had started the game running around carrying Brooks. So when they got there they were able to take Brooks from me so that I could really play. 

Nolan and I ran hard for 45 minutes and made such a fun memory together! 

It was a really good season and we enjoyed watching Nolan work hard, exercise, grow in skill & confidence, and have fun with the game.