Thursday, August 26, 2010

why did we go all the way to florida?

soccer, of course!

this journey started about a year ago, with jacks and ryan trying out of an AYSO soccer team that would travel to west palm beach, florida in the summer of 2010 for a tournament with other AYSO teams from around the country.
jackson made the team! so it was outdoor fall soccer, two sessions of indoor winter soccer, outdoor spring soccer, practices, scrimmages... all leading to the AYSO national games on the international polo grounds. oh, and don't forget fundraising when we weren't playing soccer!!

the polo grounds blew my mind! it's a huge expanse of green grass that's so soft and perfect... or at least it was on the first day! get this: there were 24 teams in each of the 4 age divisions, boys and girls--almost 200 teams from the continental u.s., the virgin islands, and trinidad and tobago! in the blistering florida sun, 400 cleats tore that grass up pretty quick!
the little team from idaho played well, but sadly didn't win any of their 5 games. jackson played well, learned what playing his position can do, saw the game played beautifully by some really good players and had a BLAST!!

being completely without grace or atheltic ability, i had never been to a tournament--let alone a tournament of this size. and even tho it was steamy and hot, we were sunburned on top of sunburns, our team was losing... it was so much fun! i would do all of it again in a heart beat!
we're so proud of him for trying, staying with it and personally succeeding!!

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