Soccer Camp

I asked KFC if she would like to try a soccer camp. It was only for 4 days and an hour each day. She seemed excited. I liked the idea because I would like for her to try all different sports and hobbies and this was one thing I had on my list for her to try out. I liked that is was only a few days, that way she got somewhat of an understanding of what soccer is about but if she didn't like it, then we were done after the 4 days.

I signed her up. I received a conformation email and it said she needed her own soccer ball and shin guards. We went to Wal-Mart last night and picked her up a purpleish-pink soccer ball. I skipped on the shin guards thinking she wouldn't really need them... toward the end of practice today she got kicked in the ankle and cried. Guess we did need them after all!

Today was the start of her 4 day camp. We were one of the first people to arrive, which got her familiar with where she was going to be playing. After signing her in, she went down to the field to kick her ball around. Another little boy came and took her ball from her, then as she tried to get it back, he ripped it away from her hands! She FLIPPED out!!! An older boy came and got the ball back for her. As she was sitting in my lap crying, all I could think was how I was going to find this little boys dad and let him know he needed to control his child better! My biggest pet-peeve is Parents not instructing their kids on how to act properly! Kids will be kids, but if KFC did that to another kid, I would have made her go apologize! Knowing KFC, once she gets upset, she doesn't want anything to do what she had been doing... this made me nervous since the actual soccer practice hadn't even started yet! She eventually calmed down and went back to the field when the coach came out to gather his age group of kids. The campers consisted of about 9 kids ages 3 1/2 to around 4, all boys but KFC :( The soccer field was Wet and KFC was a grassy mess by the end of it!

The kids started off by "dribbling" the ball around. They played green light / red light, dribble ball on green and stop the ball on red. He taught them to stop the ball first with their feet, then elbows, and I think their knees.

Next they played a game where there were different colored shirts randomly placed in the grass, this is what the coach called his skittles. The kids were to dribble the ball around and pick up the skittles to bring back to the coach. Guess he was trying to get them used to keeping the ball moving as they moved around.

The coach then set up different colored cones in the shape of a square. They were to set their ball on top and when he said 'blast-off', they were to kick their ball in the middle and dribble the ball to another colored cone he told them to find. It was funny when the coach told the kids to bring the ball back to a yellow cone, ALL the kids just kept kicking their ball around trying to find one... the cones were neon yellow, but the kids thought they were green so none of them could find a yellow cone!

They did this several times of kicking the ball off before moving on to head-butting the ball off and I think they also used their elbows and knees to knock the ball off.

Next they played 'red rover'. The coach lined them all up on one side. Then called out a color that the kids might be wearing to 'come on over'. Sadly I put KFC in pink so she 'came on over' by herself! I will dress her in more neutral colors from now on since she is the only girl!

Next, the coach somewhat paired the kids off into teams. KFC got an orange jersey, she never complained about the color so I guess she was okay with it! Some of the kids knew the concept of how to play soccer while others and mine did not. The bottom right picture shows KFC and another little boy standing when they should have been trying to get the ball! So Cute! The coach kept telling the kids to go GET the ball, KFC caught on, and this was when she got kicked in the ankle! She cried and told me she "never wants to come back here ever again!". I told her to get back out there, and after a drink of water, she ran away saying "that water made my boo boo feel better!". Proud of her for getting back out there!

After their soccer games, the coach made them all huddle in and shake hands with one another before departing! I was distracted by trying to get a picture of it, but I don't think KFC ever did shake any of the boys hands! KFC is NOT a fan of boys!!!

Over-all KFC did a good job and I think she sorta liked it. She has always been a lazy child, so for her to have basically run for an entire hour said alot! She kept wanting to quit and rest, but the coach let her know she had to keep going and that she needed to move a little faster. He was tough on all of them, but I think it was good for KFC not to be able to just give up when she wanted to. We need to toughen her up! Not sure if we will make it to all 4 camp days, but I hope she will find joy in it to keep wanting to come back each morning!