Riley's new soccer season

This season Riley has moved up a league in YMCA soccer.  This has been a major adjustment for all of us.  Our first shock was to find out we would be practicing 2 x's a week for 1 hour 15 min each time.   That is a bit much for a 5 year old in my opinion.  Plus it makes it really hard to try to get him in bed by 8, when we don't finish practice until 7:15!

Our second major adjustment is that he played his first game and didn't score a single goal.  In the age group, the kids have to play positions.  Most of the kids didn't really understand, so they just kind of stood around.  At the beginning of the game, Riley was playing defense, so he was afraid to cross the midfield line.  He just didn't understand when he could go get the ball.  It was really frustrating.  Plus this season, all the kids want to play, so he only played about half the game instead of playing majority of the game. 

I felt bad too because Richard, Karyn, & Ryan had to come to the game.  It was the first game that Ryan & Grandma Karyn had seen him play.  I really wanted to show how good he was, but they just didn't get the chance.  If Riley does not learn how to work the positions, then he will never get to use his speed to really shine on the field.

Last week, the game was rained out, so Saturday will be his 2nd chance to see how he will adjust.