mohaus: Kid's Sports: U6 Soccer

Jack wrapped up soccer the week before Thanksgiving. His team was The Hulks (green shirts) and games were every Saturday morning (yay for no mid-week practices!). He was number 4, just like in T Ball. Now I think that he believes that "4" is his own personal number.

This was Jack's third sport to try (we've done gymnastics and T ball). As parents, I have to say that soccer is probably a favorite sport for both Daniel and I. We are by no means sports fanatics, but we both have played soccer and it's a fun sport to watch little kids learn.

Jack was four when the season started and he is not exactly on track to be a soccer star. I think he likes the camaraderie that sports provide, but in terms of actually playing, he tends to hold back.

Soccer is kind of a confusing game for young children because they have spent their whole lives learning how to share, and then the game of soccer turns that teaching upside down and encourages them to be aggressive and take the ball away from other people.

A few games in, we noticed that Jack would hang back and wait for the ball to come back down the field. That eventually morphed into playing goalie (under 6 does not have goalies). We asked him why he was staying in the goal, and he said it was his favorite place because he didn't have to run as much! Ha!

Also when asked what he liked best about soccer, he said, "The snacks and giving high fives at the end of the game." He had a similar response to T Ball.

We will keep trying soccer, but this season was definitely more of an introduction for him and us. Our coaches weren't super concerned about teaching skills, it was more of a free-for-all every Saturday morning. The kids wore themselves out and we had the opportunity to get to know other parents better.

Sports definitely take a lot of time out of each week, and with a preschooler we are just dipping our toes in the pool at this point.

If Jack finds a sport he adores, we will encourage and support him. For now we are still figuring out what he likes, and sticking with one activity per season.

While Jack might not be super into soccer (yet), his little brother sure is. Every Saturday Isaac would find a ball and dribble it around while we chased him.