When Bailey was in Kindergarten and on her first soccer team Grayson was two years old. I will never forget one practice she had where all the dads on the sidelines were watching Gray kick around with Chris instead of watching their own kids. He was kind of amazing as a toddler! He could kick harder and faster than kids more than twice his age and he just moved in such a natural way towards the ball. It was pretty cool. And reminded me a lot of his dad.
Fast forward a few years and a couple of weeks ago Grayson had his first soccer game. They hadn’t practiced yet because of rain so imagine a bunch of 4-5 year old boys trying to play a sport they’ve never really played before beyond the confines of their backyards. It was hysterical.
But Grayson. Oh man. He was SO bad! I think we’d all been waiting years to see that kid finally get on a field officially and when he did he just ran around smiling the whole time avoiding the ball at all costs! I have never laughed so hard at a kid trying to play soccer in my life! Except Parker who at the same age would stop mid-running to smile and wave at us!
He still does have some natural movements that will hopefully lead to some better playing one day but honestly, as long as he’s this happy on the field I don’t care what kind of player he is!
Somehow the few shots I took between laughing actually make him look like he was doing something but trust me, he only kicked at the ball if it happened to roll by him on the outskirts of play!
This is my FAVORITE! He did this the entire time! Notice you don’t see ANY kids around him b/c the play was WAY down the field but he kept looking SO fierce while doing nothing! Oh my gosh it was so funny! If he ever does learn the skills to go with those faces he might actually frighten some kids! But for the time being he’s just happy to be running around!
And speaking of kid’s sports… THIS was a really great blog by the awesome Mike Matheny!