Soccer's Year in Review...

Both seasons came to an end this Saturday. David's Mighty Rangers wrapped up the season with a two-game tournament, while Conbo did much the same.

David's games began at 9:00 and began with great promise. David took an atypical early shift (the poor kid usually gets the short end of the stick because his dad is a coach) and took the ball right in for an early goal. After another left-footed finish, DNA testing is now in motion. (His dad has no left foot whatsoever.)

The Kickers proved to be more than a handful, though. Fortunately, David's cousin Joshie came to the rescue. After the ball squirted through the opposing defence, Joshie "Sniper" Douglas ran onto the ball, took it under control from centre all the way to the Kickers' net before he deftly slotted it in the yawning cage. The roar of the crowd was deafening. Rumour has it that the number of fans out to see Joshie and David exceeded that of the Blackhawk fans out to see Chicago lose to the Canucks the night before. It was a great moment.

In the next game, David's proudest moment wasn't either of his goals, but rather his "header". Joshua W. through the ball in from the sidelines and David got his head on it - a very rare occurance in U6 soccer. He pretty much giggled throughout the rest of his 3 minute shift.

After the game, there was the ceremonial donning of gold medals and water bottles. It was a great wrap-up to a really fun season.

Connor's "Motoring Munchkins" season was at its end as well. After reviewing the "magic moments" they had learned over the course of the season, the teams broke into four colours - Connor was yellow - and faced off.

Connor has a completely different mentality than David when it comes to playing soccer. David loves to win. Connor hates to lose. While these sound more like synonyms than antonyms, it makes a big difference on the field. Connor is so concerned about being scored on that he finds it difficult to move far from his own net. He is also very interested in the people he's playing with than David ever was. During and after a game, it's not unusual to see Connor engaged in conversation about this and that... David's all business when it comes to playing.

Well, shock of shocks Connor got a taste of success while playing against the mighty Greens. He took the ball from another kid at about centre and scampered in for a rare goal. I think we were all more excited than he was. To him, it was just another step closer to not losing. This pleased him.

Both boys were spoiled by our good friend Tim Horton. David received a "gold" medal and a water bottle. (He also gets to keep the uniform.) Conbo got the Tshirt, a gold medal, a water bottle AND a brand new soccer ball. Needless to say, I'm a fan of Tim Horton's. Okay... I was already a fan, now I'm just impressed at their contribution to the community.

The boys have truly been blessed by the programs they've been in. The people involved with administrating and coaching the kids were special people.

We're already looking forward to next season. But before that... ball hockey for Connor and Tball for David!