Giving It Another Go

Last year, Ava swore off soccer. After a few seasons she decided it just wasn't for her. To be honest, I agreed... reluctantly. I had a hard time accepting the fact that my little girl might not love soccer as much as I did/still do. She liked dressing up in the little uniform, her pink and black cleats and watching butterflies zoom past while she was on the field. But that was about it. When we moved back to Arizona we decided she'd give gymnastics a try. But that changed very quickly once she found out her little friend Anna was playing soccer AND that her team's uniforms were fluorescent yellow. She decided soccer might not be so bad and maybe she'd like to give it another go. My initial reaction was hope... hope that maybe, just maybe she'd be a soccer player yet. But then, I got a little nervous. Nervous that she'd get on the field and be more interested in how much time was left until snacks, than actually playing. But, our family rule is if you sign up for something (team, class, etc.) you stick it out until the end. No matter what. I reminded Ava of this rule and she said she still wanted to play soccer. So, we signed her up to be on the "Yellow Butterflies" with her friend Anna. I took it as a good sign when I saw her soccer number was 5, which happened to be both mine and Andy's first soccer numbers.

Saturday, the whole family joined hundreds of other families for what I like to call, "Soccer Chaos." It's several fields, hundreds of kids, hundreds more families and soccer ALL. DAY. LONG. It was awesome. As Ava warmed up with her team, I was pleasantly surprised. She was giving it her all. Game time was no different. She was aggressive, played defense, threw elbows (she gets that from her Mama) and best of all, SHE SCORED A GOAL! Andy, Jax, my parents and I were all jumping up and down cheering. But, Ava just walked back to the center of the field like it ain't no thang. I'm not sure she even smiled. She was in the zone.

So, I'm glad we gave soccer another go. There's still nine games left in the season and I hope she enjoys it as much at the end as she does now. If nothing else, she got an awesome jersey. But, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she gains a little more... a love for soccer.