First, the soccer report:
Saturday: their first regular season game was a 2-2 tie, versus a team of rude bastards from Aurora. I missed this game due to some unavoidable stuff going on, and it’s probably a good thing: I think I would have gotten thrown out at one point. The other team’s parents were just inexcusable. Thankfully, that’s rare. The kids played great, I hear.
Sunday: The coach told the team on Saturday that he considered Sunday a “sure win”.
Note to under-12 coaches everywhere: don’t say that. That’s like rewarding the kid for doing something he hasn’t done yet. He’ll NEVER do it. The team pretty much stood around for the first half waiting to see when the other team would realize that they were supposed to be losing, not winning. It didn’t work that way. Everyone was sort of off. Obviously, Justin was as well, although he still had a couple good saves.
Overall: Justin (and Jackie-in-overprotective-mom-mode) is slowly coming to grips with the fact that this is the age group and play-level where the games get rougher. Collisions are harder, people compete for the ball much more vehemently, and spectators can realistically start claiming that their players are way tougher than those wusses in American Football pads. As a goalie, Justin’s getting some of the worst of it and holding up well.
Jackie, not quite so much. :)
