Soccer

This is the second year that Shea has played soccer at the high school. Nick and I gingerly talked her into trying out last year, and she decided to go for it. When she was in kindergarten, she played on a rec league in our old neighborhood, and when she was in 3rd grade she tried out for a travel team and made it. She was on a team with a bunch of really good, and REALLY aggressive girls who constantly pushed her and told her what to do. Shea is a highly competitive kid and didn't take too kindly to not being the best anymore, and to also being yelled at by her teammates. 1 year of that business, and she hung up her cleats, swearing that she was never going to play soccer again.

When she decided to go out for the team last year, she quickly realized that she hadn't lost any of her skill in the long 5 year hiatus. She started on the JV team and played center on defense. And she was really good. Nick and I were so excited to be back in the soccer world again. It's such a fun game to watch.

This year, she really, really wanted to make the varsity team. I cautioned her that she was only a sophomore and she had only been playing for a year, but I believed that she could do it is she worked really hard and showed her coaches what she was capable of. Lo and behold, she made both the JV and the varsity teams. She starts on JV and dresses for varsity. They haven't played her yet on varsity but she is anxiously waiting. (and not so patiently).

I am really proud of this girl. She is a natural born athlete. She was born with muscular arms, and I am being totally serious. She can pick me up and throw me around like a rag doll and thinks it's wildly fun to do so. I don't know where the athleticism comes from, because it's NOT from me. I am about as coordinated as a rhinoceros. It sure is fun to watch her play, though.

I shot a series of pictures of her kicking the goal kick. She does this about 50 times in any given game. She has so much power in her legs that she can kick the ball half way down the field.

  

Okay, enough bragging for one day.