Soccer Season 2012 Kicks Off

We are all pretty excited for the start of our second soccer season and today was the Rosemont Soccer Club's annual Jamboree and Exhibition Game. It's mostly just a fun, circus atmosphere with music and bounce houses and free food. Each team plays a half-game (so two, ten-minute halves with a 3 minute intermission) just to get into the spirit and a little game-time experience before the season starts.Of course, it was Ollie's first game and he played about as well as any four-year old. He spent as much time looking about, chasing bugs, and looking for clover flowers as going for the ball. But, last year's experience with Lola has been very helpful for me so far in terms of being realistic about what's possible at this age.Lola on the other hand was much more engaged and aware. In part because she has that year of experience, in part because she's now part of an U8 team with a few older, more experienced girls leading the way, and in part because she's got a no-nonsense coach that means bid-ness. (If you're a Facebook friend you probably remember my post last week quoting Coach Oscar: "This is soccer, people get hurt." In fact, I'm collecting a list of "Oscarisms" for a future post.) She's still about the smallest one on the field but once she understood her position (Forward today) she went after it.For those of you interested, I'll post a schedule of their games as soon as I get it. The season opener is 8 September.[Click on the first one to open the pics in a slide show format]