James' Soccer Career

James has his last soccer game this coming Saturday and I have to tell you how far he has come since the start of the season... The first few "games" were really rough - the kids have no idea what they are doing, they just know to kick the ball.  Where to kick it and how long they should continue kicking it are advanced concepts at this age.  James' team plays through the YMCA and although his team is all three year olds, the other teams have players as old as five on them.  There is a HUGE difference in soccer skills between a three year old and a five year old, so some of our games have been very one-sided (as in the other team scored goal after goal while we struggled to just kick the ball in the right direction).  At first James would cry every time the other team scored and then he started giving up entirely, refusing to go back into the game since his team couldn't win.  So Brannon practiced and practiced with him, trying very hard to make the game more about having fun than actually winning.  Then one day James actually helped score a goal... he was so proud of himself!  The next two games he also scored a goal.  And last Saturday he was on fire - he scored five goals! It helped that the other team was also a young one and we were fairly evenly matched (finally!).  He played almost the entire game and we haven't seen any tears on the field in a long time.  I am so proud of him for persevering and learning to overcome his frustrations!