Soccer Superstar

The Goalie Dance

Right after scoring his very first goal

Stratton had his last soccer game Tuesday evening. Ric signed him up for this little rec league at the Holladay Lion's Club. He's had 8 games in the past 4 weeks and has just loved it! Ric really wanted him to do this (gave up his gym membership to pay for it) and I was quite reticent (not really ready to be the soccer mom yet that has a crazy driving back and forth schedule), but it has been really fun to watch.

Stratton's team wore white shirts and they named themselves the White Sharks. Stratton loves being goalie. They had 12 little 3 and 4 year olds on the team and rotated each quarter who was goalie, but somehow Stratton managed to get to play goalie every game. He did pretty well too! He blocked almost all of the shots, and when he wasn't playing goalie he was a pretty decent forward - scored 8 or 10 goals.

At this level they just call it "bunch ball" because the little kids just run around the ball in one tight bunch. This was a little frustrating to Ric (Mr. Former Westminster Soccer Player/Chief Competitive Rogers Brother), but we had a few talks about not expecting too much from Stratton and I have to say that he did quite well at just being positive and encouraging and not pressuring. There was even one game where Stratton's coaches weren't able to be there and Ric stepped in and was the coach for the game. He was a way cute coach - very good with the kids. And Stratton is already begging to be signed up again!