It's Magic!

Both girls recently finished their spring season with the Magic travel soccer program.  Elizabeth is on a spectacular team that improved with every game, finishing the regular season 8-2-1 (the losses were the first two games of the season).  She does not have the skill set or the talent to play with starters, but she worked incredibly hard this year and showed a great deal of improvement.  When she gets the chance to play, she proves herself to be tough, reliable and determined - and the girls on her team are so amazing that they pass her the ball, even in the toughest of situations, because they believe in her.  It's really a testament to wonderful coaching and teamwork.  As the years go on, it is clear that she will see less and less playing time, but she enjoys the team, the coach and the sport, which is all that you can really ask.

Notice the mouthguard.  I wore a mouthguard as a player, mainly because my parents spent a fortune on my teeth and didn't want to see that wasted.  At this age, given the height of the players, we see a large number of balls to the face, so we starting making both girls wear a mouth guard for protection.  Last week, Elizabeth took a stunning shot to the face - one of those blows that causes everyone on the sidelines make that "ohhhh!" noise and sends fear shooting through the parents.  After a stunned moment, she dropped to the ground and was down for about ten minutes before walking off the field under her own power.  Lots of blood, but no concussion.  In the car on the way home, she told us that her mouthguard was full of blood, but that she would never, ever play without it.  Even she knew how much it protected her.  Lee and I are certain (you know, because we are both doctors) that given the impact, the mouth guard is what protected her from a concussion.

But for that pesky defender, she would have scored here!

Emily played on a newly formed team, which also improved with every game.  Although made up of 7 and 8 year olds, they played teams of 9 and 10 year olds, which means that they lost every game, but  became better and better at holding their own.  Emily blossomed as a soccer player this spring and shows the potential to become a real play maker as she develops (or not; we've been around sports long enough to know how that goes).  Lee and I continue to struggle with the single sport mentality - we saw how far behind Elizabeth fell because she didn't play soccer year-round, yet we fell like we have an obligation to expose the girls to as many experiences as possible, ensuring that they are as multi-demensional as possible.  This spring, we've questioned ourselves many times and we continue to work to find the balance.

In this game, Emily was whistled for making an improper throw in (not this one).  The next day, we spent an hour in the backyard working on throw ins.  I thought that I would simply show her how to do it the right way, and we would be back inside in five minutes.  Again, again, again she demanded that we drill it over and over so that not only was she doing it correctly, but also doing it well.