You may know that my John is a bit stubborn. Just a bit.

Last year when he did a session of soccer skills in the spring it was more like Daddy and Mommy doing soccer skills, red light green light etc and John sucking his fingers. But he insisted that he wanted to play this year.

So we signed him up.

And the first practice, which was labeled a ‘meet and greet,’ I didn’t bring a soccer ball for him. He stood in the middle of the field . . . sucking his fingers. Not even Sarah, who is on the same team could get him to move. Another mom suggested that perhaps golf was his sport.

Excellent.

The next practice/game I was so nervous. Had I just invested over a hundred dollars for him to stand in the middle of the field and suck his fingers for six weeks?

Well, the first practice/game he jumped right in! He kicked the ball, he shot on goal, he didn’t care when he was goalie and was scored on.

Every time a new thing happened I thought, “This is it. This is when he freezes and the fingers go in the mouth.” But no!

This past Saturday he totally got into it. He got right into the pack, kicking at the ball, trying to steal it away, running at the front of the group.

At one point he actually stole the ball, took it on a long, long run from the center of the field right down the middle and shot on goal!

Our goal.

The goalie stopped it.

The most wonderful coach ruffled his hair and said, “Great running, John! Way to kick that ball!”

They are after all just five and six.

Well done, John!