Chloe (age 3) attended her team’s soccer practice/game after missing a couple of weeks for various reasons; holiday, refusing to put on shin pads.
Today as I looked around at the six teams hustling towards the ball across the field, I can say with absolute certainty, Chloe was the least interested in the game of soccer than anyone there. Perhaps in the history of the game. Even the dogs on the sidelines were more engaged.
That said, she’s three. What did we expect?
In terms of a progress report, I have to say she has improved tremendously since the first day when orange slices took priority above anything remotely related to soccer.
This morning, it was her team picture that held her attention. That and the tim-bit bribe I was hoping to keep in my back pocket (the bribe, not the tim-bit) until we hit point-of-no-return with the shin-pad wrestling. Sadly, I promised her a tim-bit before we even found her coach. Okay, before we even left the van.
Part way through the game, while Chloe was goal-tending she wandered over to me (as you do) and noticed I was holding her team photo.
The photo she missed during either the holiday or the week we burned her shin pads.
She was really excited to have a picture of her teammates and to have a take-home to proudly show off to the rest of the shin pad wearing world, “Here’s my team!”
Chloe: Let me tell you who everyone is.
Me: Sure, but you really should be standing in the net because the yellow team has yet another breakaway and is about to shoot.
Thankfully her team had no idea Chloe had absconded and strangely didn’t seem to mind.
I thought maybe if she could show even a smidge of enthusiasm about soccer (even if it was in the team picture, a picture she wasn’t even in) it might get her one step closer to playing for fun AND a tim-bit and not just for the tim-bit.
I also thought if she knew the names of the kids, she might be able to communicate better with them on the field or in the drive-thru after the game.
Chloe proudly held the picture up to my face. Too close for me to be able to focus but from a three year olds perspective, it really kept me from being able to see anything happening on the field and focusing solely on her peeps. I was going to be very surprised if she actually knew any of their names.
Chloe pointing, back row from left to right: “This is red-shirt coach.”
Me: Uh huh.
Chloe: Him is him (pointing to the picture at “him” and then identifying “him” on the field.”
Me: Okay.
Chloe: Him is him (again pointing to another “him” on the field and making a match with the picture)
We played this life sized game of Memory as she matched characters in the picture with real soccer players on the field while her team got hammered with goals from an aggressive team Honey Bee. I’m pretty sure she got one “her” wrong but they both had long-ish curly, brown hair so, close enough.
Progress.
