Sam's Soccer Saturday

Sam plays soccer in a local rec league.  They practice once a week and have a game every Saturday.

Initially, Sam was not excited about going, but pretty quickly, he changed his mind.  In fact, after last Saturday's game, he said to me, "Thanks for signing me up for this!"

Last Saturday was picture day, and being a cheap-skate, I didn't pay for the professional head shot of my darling angel.  Instead I took my camera along and after the team picture, I pulled Sam aside for a quick photo session of our own.

Unfortunately, I do not inspire the kind of cooperation a professional inspires in most youngsters.  Or at least not with Sam.

I got this.

And this.

And finally settled for this: the semi-serious "Mom-stop-torturing-me-I-wanna-play-with-my-friends" look.

Sam's team has boys from ages 7 to 10, a good mix that allows the younger boys to learn from the older and gives the older boys a chance to be rockstars.  

Sam has only played organized sports one other time in his life, two years ago, and I wasn't sure how much he remembered about the game.

(Side note: I vividly remember talking with our liaison at the adoption agency on the phone, gettting updates on "our" birthmom, while watching Sam play soccer with 75 other 5 and 6-year-olds.) 

His favorite move is hopping around the fringes of the "scrum" of boys around the ball, but he's not afraid to get in there, too.

These boys are actually beginning to understand the concepts of strategy, passing the ball, and teamwork, so it's fun to watch.  

They tied their first game and won their second one 4-7, but of course no one is keeping track or cares anything for statistics like that.