Sports Camp: Soccer

Sports camp for last week was cancelled because of snow, so this is only the second week. Harper was really excited about going and I was thrilled that he was looking at this whole thing in a positive light; lord knows I wasn’t looking forward to it since he didn’t really care for it the first time.

Harper must have remembered how the first class went too because he assured me on the way there that he wasn’t going to “be a baby” this time. I asked him why he thought he’d been a baby the last time and he said because he’d talked like one. He uses baby talk sometimes when he’s nervous or needs attention and he did do that during the first class. I told him I was sure that they would see that he was a big boy and that he just needed to remember to use his big boy voice if he wanted to say something.

Harper’s the one in green.

As soon as they opened up the doors, Harper eagerly ran to sit with the teachers. He listened nicely while they talked and only jumped up once they were directed to get a ball. After a brief explanation about soccer being a no hands sport, they showed the kids how to “stop” a ball with their foot. (I use quotes on stop because the ball wasn’t moving in the first place.) Harper, as well as many other kids, had a hard time keeping his balance while keeping one foot on the ball. He was diligent though and kept trying and trying and there were some good moments in there.

Next up was stopping the ball with one foot then the other. This just wasn’t happening for Harp’s at all. He just kept working on the one foot while everyone else chased their ball around the gym floor. Once that chaos was over it was time to dribble the ball down the court. Ha. It was basically a bunch of 3-5 year olds running after their ball and then kicking it in the general direction of the net at the end of the court. Some, like Harper, would just pick the ball up and run it to the end! Now, don’t get me wrong, Harper did try to dribble, but when he got tired of chasing his ball, he figured it would just be easier to carry the damn thing down to the end.

After trying out the basics there were a few games. First was red light green light, which Harper totally loved, then tag…which he started off loving. There were two kids in the middle of the court and the rest were lined up with their balls at the end of the court. The kids at the end were supposed to try to dribble their ball to the other end without getting tagged by the kids who were in the center. Got it? Well, Harper was successful the first couple of times, but the very last time one of the kids tagged him. As soon as he turned around and I saw his face crumple I knew he’d had enough. He broke down sobbing and was completely hurt that the other little kid had gotten him. He cried for a little bit but I didn’t want him to feel bad about not finishing the class so I didn’t say anything and I didn’t force him back out on the court. I just explained that the other kid tagged him because they were playing a game and that if he was done he could just sit with me and watch, which he did.

Here’s a little video of Harper’s “dribbling” skills. Don’t you just love how the one kid just decides to stop and lay in the middle of the floor? Ahhh…to be three.

At one point during the class the teacher had them all lined up and wanted them to have their foot on the ball to keep it from rolling off. Harper had his ball in his hands and the teacher asked him “Harper, how is your ball different than mine?” Harper said “Well, your ball has black things on it and mine has orange!” Haha! The teacher then asked a better question “Harper, how are you holding your ball different than I am?” If you want a specific answer you gotta ask a specific question!