Hailey’s First Soccer Game

As a parent, it is so exciting for me that Hailey is now old enough to participate in some sporting activities! I signed her up for Spring soccer this year. This past Thursday was her first game.

Hailey was so excited! She loves to wear her uniform and keeps talking about how she is number 10.

She had a blast running around and kicking the soccer ball. What a great way for her to burn some of her abundance of energy!

Hailey even got her first grass stain. She kind of deserved it. She was pushing the girl next to her, and she tripped. I was grateful that she just hopped up, check it out, and moved on. Kyle and I had to convince her that it was cool to have a grass stained knee. She didn’t think so at first. She eventually warmed up to the idea and was excited to take a picture of it.

While Hailey may have had fun, Kyle was in agony watching it all play out. Watching a bunch of 3 year olds play soccer is pretty entertaining and chaotic. I never played soccer, and still don’t know all of the rules, but Kyle grew up playing soccer. It’s hard for him to watch such an unorganized game.

Hailey’s team lost, not that they had any idea or that it matters. I think the other team scored something like 3 goals. All of the game was spent at one goal. I don’t think Hailey’s team realized there was a second goal, and that they needed to turn the ball around and kick it towards the other goal. I also don’t think they knew what the white lines on the ground were for- they ended up close to the parking lot a few times.

Hailey had fun and kicked the ball around a little bit. She also spent quite a bit of her time wandering around, playing with the goal, and asking for a drink. They had designated break times, and Hailey was always so excited to run over and get a drink.  I think the hardest thing for Hailey to understand was that she could kick the ball away from the other girls. She’d be wandering around and I’d tell her to go play and kick the ball. She responded dejectly with “They already got it…” It’s funny, we’ve taught her to share with other kids, and when they have something they are playing with to wait until they are done with it. Now, in soccer we’re telling her to do the exact opposite! She’ll figure it out eventually.

Here’s a short video I took of the first part of the game: