Fertile Ground: U14 Soccer, Mid-Season Report

Last year I started an indoor team for the U13 boys, which eventually led to the creation of the O35 Women's league when all of the moms wanted to play as well. (Not surprisingly, now the dads want to play too! More on that later.)

Now that the boys are a little older, it's officially a U14 league. We have six teams instead of the original four, so it is even more exciting. We've been playing for four weeks and so far my Ninjas are undefeated. However so are the Beavers, who we face tomorrow!

Jiro is very focused on playing defense indoors, because he is a little shy around the older kids. But he is still fierce. This is a great group of boys who practically coach themselves. I'm really just there to make sure everyone gets a chance to play and to ensure that they are good sports.

Fun fact: the moms of these boys all play O35 soccer on my team! Jiro, on behalf of the Ninjas, has challenged the Highballs to a game. It could happen!

Satchel is playing with Bigfoot, under Coach McAfee, who was Satchel and Jiro's first ever coach. Bigfoot has yet to win a game, but they look better and better each week, so I don't expect it to last. Satchel scored a goal last week, which was awesome. He's working on his confidence and some weeks are better than others. Overall he says it is fun.

Last week his cleat came flying off several times and he played on, which was funny and a little nerve wracking! Warren went and got him a fancy new pair to start wearing this week. (And a headband! Not sure Satchel is going to go for that though.)