Day 99- June 19, 2020

Day 99- June 19, 2020

Today was filled with seeing friends.  Since the restrictions have eased a bit, we have started doing selective socially-distanced playdates with the girls' friends, and today involved a bunch.

First, A. and N. came over for another soccer playdate.  We worked on shooting in our backyard.  N. is a natural athlete, who is super tall for her age and already excels at softball and basketball.  She's interested in playing goalkeeper, and so she hopped in the net for several of the shots that E. took.

A. has been in dance since she was very young, and you can see her footwork coming along quickly as a result.  She's never played organized soccer (except for some instruction at an after school YMCA aftercare program), but she's picking it up quickly, and I was impressed by how much better she already is in a week of practicing.  I think that's what I love about youth sports- kids can pick up sports quickly given the chance, and you never know who may learn to excel.  At the same time, I definitely feel like we start them super young now.

When I was going into third grade, I had never played soccer either.  Rec started in third, and a year later, I tried out for (and made) the travel team.  Now, though, kids can begin playing rec in first grade, which is way before a lot of them have the muscular development and motor skills (especially the foot skills) to take to it.  This can mean kids getting frustrated, or deciding a sport isn't for them that actually might be a good fit in a few years.

It also means that the kids who have been getting travel training by professional trainers for two years have a distinct advantage over the ones who are just learning the sport.  But- and this is something I like about our club- I've heard from other coaches that the kids are re-evaluated after the fall season and going into the spring, so that if there's been some real growth, or leveling off, that the kids can migrate from one team to another and still stay within the club.  Since there will be three teams (based on playing ability) at this age, it makes sense to keep evaluating the children- especially when you have some athletic kids that, after a month or two of training, can move up because they've gone from raw talent to more polished players.


After A. and N. headed home, I rushed over to Mom's house to turn on all the lights, because there was an impromptu showing (the house literally went on the market this morning).  It's exciting, because the house is finally on the market, and showings mean we've hopefully priced it appropriately and will get a buyer soon.

Mom's house with the sign our front.  Very surreal.

Unfortunately, it took longer than I would have liked, and I was a bit late getting home to E's second playdate of the day, with her friend K. and her mom who were also joining us for a bit of soccer.  K. has been playing travel soccer in our town (E's club is in the town I grew up in), and she and E. had a blast shooting the ball, and running around.  Her mom and I have become friends since attending a Taylor Swift concert (with our daughters) last spring, and it was great to have another parent to talk to about sports and try outs.  She played field hockey in college, and is excited for K. to try out for the club E. plays for.  While our girls are in the same grade, K. was born in one year, and E. in the next, so K. will be with the older kids.  I lament this a lot, because it means that kids who are in the same grade level don't play together all the time.

At the end of the day, my friend Bianca dropped by with R's friend A. and they were so excited to see each other.  A. is an only child, and Bianca said it's been rough with quarantine because she hasn't been able to see anyone else besides her parents for the last several months. Bianca is one of the smartest people I know- she is a translator by trade, speaking several languages fluently, and her daughter attends fencing with R. (when there's not a pandemic going on).  Our girls get along really well, which is a blessing (I'm always happy when my daughters pick friends whose moms are awesome- this has been a recurring theme in our lives, and one I'm grateful for).