Jamborees

"It is more important to keep your eye on the ball than it is to try to get a goal," Sam said after I asked how he knew so much, how he had gotten so good so fast. 

We were out in the back yard kicking the ball around while Eva napped.  He had just scored his third goal by kicking the ball past me and in to the evergreen that sits between our house and the street.  I had yet to get the ball away from him long enough to kick it down the slope of our yard and into the tree that would allow me to score.

That was two weeks ago, a few days after his first Football Jamboree in La Crosse in which Kate and Eric and I cheered from the sidelines and took pictures while Kelly entertained Eva and snuggled with Eomji.  During the first Jamboree they had an older gentleman as a ref and he took the entire thing very seriously, encouraged the coaches to come out on the field and instruct the kids about the game, carefully explained the coin toss to the team captains (one of them Sam), and made sure the rules were followed.  During the second jamboree 2 weeks later, the high school student ref didn't seem all that interested in being there and he insisted we play on the smaller field and we all groaned about having to move to the cold shade, but even with the new 4 on 4 formation and the cold weather and one boy out with a broken arm, the second jamboree was a wild success.  Kate even got them all to pose for a team photo before we grabbed brats from the concession stand and loaded our gear back in the Mazda and headed home wishing we could do it every week.

Sam had two more nights of practice in which they mostly played games and the parents jogged in place to stay warm, but even though the sun is getting low in the sky by dinner time and the temperatures make gloves imperative, Sam still wants to be out there every day. 

"Why can't we play soccer in the winter?" he asks.  "We could shovel a circle in the snow and still play," he insists.  "Or maybe there's someplace we could play indoors in the winter.  What about our basement?"

Not a bad idea.