Fütball Mom

It sounds so much more chic, glamourous and oh-so-European to say "Fütball Mom" as opposed to the über cliché, "soccer mom", so I'm going to go with that. This is our first spring of having both Little A and Big E on soccer teams so our Saturdays (and the occasional Sunday) have been filled with running from here to there getting the kids to the right field at the right time in the right uniform (trying....not always succeeding - sorry, Coach C).

Big E's team, the Firebolts (one of the few girl's teams that isn't the "Pretty Ponies" or "Princesses are Pretty" teams), has a great line-up and the games have gotten much more exciting in the past couple of seasons. They are actually starting to realize that this is a Team sport, as opposed to a mass of girls fighting each other for a chance to land a ball in a net. She's come a long way since she was the girl standing on the opposite side of the field from where the action was happening watching her doggy-ears bounce up and down in the shadows and picking flowers.

Little A really wanted to be on a soccer team starting about, oh, four years ago. He's never met a ball he didn't love and feel the need to master. So, when we got the notice they were taking 4 year olds, we were all over it. He's a Jaguar now and the only 4 year old on his team. Smaller and not quite as fast as the other kids (they're all 5 going on 6!), he holds his own. He can stiff-arm and foul inconspicuously with the best of 'em. I especially love it when he's slightly bumped how he throws himself on the ground as if he's been knocked down by a Pittsburgh Steeler. Dramatics get the ref's attention. Next season they'll start working on the Fake and Take where one kid fakes a seizure while the other kids score goal after goal. It's all about strategy people.