Jakey's first soccer game

I'm all ready for soccer, mom!

Warm-ups. This was so funny, he was supposed to be holding his leg like the kid in black in front of him. This was his version. It was so cute.

Warm-ups

Doing good listening to instructions.

Listening to instruction from coach.

Jake's turn in practice to take it to the goal.

Going....

Going.....

Gone!

During the game.

Doing a great job....

GOAL!!

UPDATE: Okay, so I wrote the post below a couple days ago and have waited to post it. Jake has since had his second game which was today (Saturday). He wasn't as stoked to play in the game today but loved practice. I think I may talk to the coach about a longer practice and shorter game since none fo the kids really enjoy the game that much, but love the practice. Okay, on to my original post. I will post pics from todays game soon.

ORIGINAL POST: Super cute. He did a really good job for the attention span of a 3 year old having to play on a field 3 feet away from a park that his cousins and brother were playing at. We definitely had one or more moments when he was over it and walked off the field, but most of the time he played. I think he will do better when his daddy is there too. I had all three of my kids plus 3 of my nieces and no Ryan so it was a little hard to juggle everything. I think he will do better when we can focus all our attention on him.

He wanted to play soccer like a big boy since Ben played AYSO this year. But I do kind of have an internal struggle with kids playing soccer this young. I mean, there whole 3.5 years of existence we teach them to share, share, share. Then one day, we put them on a field with a bunch of other kids and teach them to take the ball away from other kids or watch them as they get the ball taken away from them. I clearly remember when Ben played at this age and he would run after the kid with the ball crying, saying "it's my turn, it's my turn." He totally didn't get the concept of why people were taking the ball from him or not sharing when he didn't get a chance to get it. Well, Jake had a similar experience. Anytime he would have the ball heading for the goal with eager anticipation and someone would take it from him, he would look at me with these big, sad brown eyes, fighting back tears. Finally he broke down and was so frustrated. Where was the taking turns? Why didn't the "we don't take things out of people's hands (or feet for this purpose)"rule apply here? I kind of feel like this is a really young age for them to learn this. Are they too young to understand that it's just a game and it's okay to take the ball away from some kid or if it is taken from you that the kid isn't trying to be mean? We tell them there whole lives to share and be kind and the all the sudden we are yelling from the sidelines, "Get the ball! essentially saying, " Take it away from him!" I know eventually soccer is rad for kids, like kids Ben's age. But is it too frustrating and confusing for kids Jake's age? I don't know. I kind of feel it is. But, we are still going to keep him in it, like we did Ben, unless he just absolutely hates it. I am a firm believer not to force your kids to do the "optional" things at this age. He loves practice so I may just let him do the practice and then when he is ready to play the game, he can play. If he is never ready this season, that is fine by me.