Soccer 2012

Laney was able to play soccer for her first year.  She had a lot of fun and scored tons of goals.  Most of her team was always busy either running off the field to get a drink or busy tackling people so Laney often took on the other team by herself. Even though they didn't officially keep score, they won most of their games.   Laney's games were always first thing in the morning so it wasn't usually too hot when she played.

 

Kelli's team was AWESOME!  Kelli was just barely old enough to play in U8 age division.  She was lucky enough to get on a team of girls who were almost all from Wrightwood (we play in the Tri-Community area so often you get mixed on teams with people from other towns).  Kelli's team didn't lose a single game.  Once they had a real nail biter because they only won by 4 goals.  They were so much better than the other teams so they had to make it challenging for themselves.  They set goals where every single person on their team would have to touch the ball 3-4 times before someone could shoot a goal.  Often they would only have one person play on offense and the rest would be on defense.  Sometimes they could only kick goals from mid-field.  The coaches had to be really creative to find ways to keep the game semi-close so the other teams wouldn't feel bad.  I don't think our goalies hardly ever got to touch the ball because it never came by our goal.  Even though she wasn't one of the best girls on the team, Kelli had a blast!  Go Orange Crushers!



Makayla's team, the Orange Crushers (oddly enough, she and Kelli got the same color of uniforms, the same number, and even chose the same team name on the same day without even knowing it) was terrible.  Many of the girls on Makayla's team had never really played before.  Normally they have this big draft (which I think is dumb the way they do it) so that they can divide the teams evenly.  Well, two of our players who were supposed to be really good ended up not playing so we were hurting!  Makayla was officially a forward but she pretty much played the whole field all the time.  She usually played the whole game because she would actually get in there and play.  Makayla scored more goals than all of the other girls on the team combined.  Once during the season they had to play a boys team.  Makayla and another girl, Brooke, thought it was great, but the rest of her team thought it was scary.  They would literally run away whenever a boy came in their direction.  That was a long game!  Even though Makayla's team did so bad, Makayla still made the all-star team.  Normally she wouldn't have been able to be on it because her team lost so many games, but every one of the other coaches actually voted her in.  It was really cool, but the all star games were all on Sunday's so Makayla chose not to play.  Bummer....

 



 

When we play soccer, it is an all-day event.  With three different teams, the girls' games usually end up being spread out through the whole day.  The girls play at Quail Valley which is about 35 minutes from our town.  By the time you find parking and walk to and from the fields, it's too big of a hassle to go home in between games.   Not only is it tiring, but it's also in the desert where there are no trees by the fields.  That means no shade.  We have to bring our own.  Now we've done it so much we know how to pack for the day!  Even though it is VERY time consuming with two practices and one game for each girl every week from August through Thanksgiving, the girls love playing.  Since Jacob wasn't working, it made things easier on me because he could help take the girls to practices.  Kelli and Makayla had practice at the same time...in different towns.