First Soccer Game

Last Saturday was the girls' first soccer game; a new sport for them this season. Franz was out of town, so I couldn't get any good pictures at the games. That may sound like a cop-out, but let me explain.

The girls are all suited up for the games. They both somehow got onto orange-uniformed teams, despite being in two different age leagues.

Last Saturday's temperature was 105 degrees. The first game was Madeline's at 10:30. We had to be on the field at 10:00. Katie's game began at 11:30; the same time Madeline's ended, but she needed to be on her field at 11:15. The two fields were about 1/4 mile apart on church grounds. I had to bring a two small coolers of food (we were gone from home from 9:45 to 12:45 and they were playing hard), 3 water bottles, an extra cooler of cold water, a blanket to sit on, two soccer balls, soccer gear, my purse, the diaper bag (with toys, food, spoon, wipes, diapers, formula, bottle, bibs, hat), and a large stroller to haul it all in.

Madeline started out the game as goalie, and even blocked a kick. Nothing got by her! Her favorite position was goalie, although she did get to try them all out.

When we got to the first field, there was not a tree or shade structure in sight. Luckily, I had an umbrella I'd forgotten about in my purse, and put it over Katie as she lay on the blanket. Jackson's adjustable shade on the stroller was able to keep him from the sun. I, however, got plenty of said sun. I had to call a friend whose daughter was on Katie's team. She walked from Katie's field over to Maddie's to pick up Katie and take her to her game. Maddie and I joined her once the first game was finished.

Katie and her team of Pre-K and Kindergarten soccer players, only one of whom had any experience or could probably even tell the difference between a soccer ball and a football.

Katie scored two goals once she heard the following coaching advice, "If you see the ball and a wide open green space, go get that ball and kick it into the net!"

On the second field, there was even less shade, in addition to it being a turf field with half walls all the way around it, and it was an hour later in the day. I think we all almost fried to death. Maddie was exhausted and hot from playing. Jackson couldn't escape the direct afternoon sun. I had to use the umbrella to cover his legs and Maddie alternated from trying to get her face under it as well, and leaving the field to sit under some trees in the distance. In desperation, I dumped cold water out of a water bottle on Jackson's head and chest a couple different times. He was so happy when I did.

Katie's team had 7 players show up, and it is a 4 on 4 game with no goalie. The lucky girls who were not on the field sat under a golf umbrella with their water bottles until they were called back in.

You can now imagine why I didn't get any good pictures; I was trying to shade and cool and feed kids the whole time. The ones posted here, aside from a couple, were taken by a friend (whose daughter is on Katie's team) and emailed to me.

After the hours of roasting in 105, we unanimously decided to stop by Sonic for some slushies to cool down our core temperatures. When we got home, I stripped Jackson down to his diaper, the girls threw off their uniforms, and we all crashed on the floor and couches under the ceiling fan after I adjusted the air conditioner down a couple of degrees. Nothing ever felt so good!

Wish us luck on this weekend's games. It's supposed to be 104. And Franz can't be at this one either! I will let you know how they go, should we survive.