It’s Day 3 of me guest posting over at Canadian Family.
I am giving away one subscription of Canadian Family each day (and you don’t have to be Canadian to win, enjoy, or understand the magazine). If you wish to enter, leave a comment below.
Today’s post concerns five-year-olds, soccer, scoring, and snacks.
Little Cleats, Big Action
Here’s an excerpt from Soccer a la 5-year-olds:
Coach D scanned the sidelines, weighing his options. He could see Number 5 taking off her cleats, Number 11 sobbing in his mom’s lap, and Number 7 picking some forgotten dandelions. He had little choice but to approach my daughter, who was panting like a Siberian Husky on a hot July day.
“Viv, can you go on again?” he asked.
Still guzzling water, Vivian managed a nod and tossed the bottle to the ground. In a seemingly-practiced Mia Hamm move, she yanked up her socks and jogged onto the field.
“Ball in,” said the ref. And then they were at it: six Blue Whales battling six Red Dragons. Like the team names imply, the contest was legendary in its mythology, at least in the eyes of five-year-olds. They swarmed the soccer ball, following it like it was the Holy Grail.
Any tales of kids and sports out there? Don’t forget to comment for a chance to win. Or just because.
Leanne Shirtliffe is the mother of seven-year-old twins, Thing 1 and Thing 2. She lived in Asia for eight years, which turned out to be a build-your-own-family adventure. Leanne writes for Nickelodeon and pens a humour column for The Calgary Herald. She is represented by Jill Marr of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency in California. 
Fantastic tale! The grit and passion of sport comes to life. Yes, I sense a FIFA world cup somewhere in Vivian’s future.
Not sure about FIFA, but I’m sure she’ll give me more to blog about, for good or not!
Um. I bought $300 skis for my 6 month old daughter’s stroller last winter. That’s sport-related, right? (And a little bit CRAZY.)
But it’s cool crazy.
my children in sports is a touchy subject. I am a total football mom (as in American Football). However, my boys have played Tennis, Baseball, soccer and Basketball. I don’t mind the competition between the kids. It’s the parents i could live without. Of course, i’m sad to say that only half of the parents show up at games.
Yes, the parents. Not looking forward to that part of competition.
Fabulous story – Vivian is a true sportswoman and you must have been so very proud, watching her do that. Oh the joys of parenting and the lessons we can learn from our children. Just wonderful
Thanks. Now if we can just channel her competitive energy for the good.
My 5yo is playing soccer now. She’s improved somewhat since the beginning of the season (which simply means she kicks the ball in the right direction and is usually paying attention to her coach). Our league is SUPER casual. The parents cheer for all the kids; it’s not competitive at all. No one keeps score. We usually play 3-on-3 so there are plenty of kids to sub in and out.
All that being said, I think Flora is actually ready to try something else. She’s meh about soccer, so I’ve proposed a couple other things that we can check out if she wants. She actually mentioned karate, so I may look into classes for her and her sister. That would be fun!
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