Manchester Tournament

All of the girls Magic teams (and several of the boys teams as well) played in the Meg Berte Memorial Nutmeg Class Annual Tournament over the weekend.  Elizabeth did not make the roster for her team (only 14 kids made the roster for each team), so we only had four games to watch (otherwise, it would have been 8!).  Emily's team went 0-3-1, but they played so great.  Emily plays for a U9 team, which means everyone is under the age of 9; some are still 7, a few just turned 7, so they are an extremely young team. Unfortunately, no other U9 teams entered the tournament, so Emily's team played four U10 teams, which were made up of 9 year old girls.  You wouldn't think it matters that much, but at this age, it really does.  They were bigger, faster and stronger, but most importantly, they had played together for at least a year; Emily's team had three practices before the tournament and often weren't sure what positions they were playing.  Saturday was brutally hot and humid and Emily did not play well at all.  The good news was, she knew that she didn't play well and was pumped to do better on Sunday, which she did.  She worked very hard, played different positions, learned how to shove back against some very physical 9 year olds.  We were very proud of how well she played and how tough she was. The team pulled out a tie against the U9/U10 mix team, but really dominated that game, giving the girls a lot of hope for the rest of the season.

I love these last three photos - learning how to be tough in less than ten seconds.

We cooled off between games at Panera.  

Walking with her soccer bestie.  These two were inseparable all weekend.

Taking the ball away. 

First time ever having a drop ball in a game situation.

No problem! 

I put this one in to show the size difference. 

Participation trophy (blech).