The Fighting Unicorn Lions

April 2013

 

In April, the Unicorn Lions soccer season began.  Jack's division was the 3-4 year-old age group.  Since Jack had just turned 3, he was one of the youngest on the team - and when the oldest are almost 5, it makes a big difference.  They played 4-on-4 on little mini soccer fields.  At this age, the sidelines were really more "guidelines" than strictly enforced out-of-bounds markers, and it was common for a parent on the sideline to gently "nudge" the ball back onto the field when it went out.  They played 4 8-minute quarters, which may not sound like long, but is really much longer than the attention span of a 3-year-old.  Jack was usually energetic at the beginning of a game, but his attention waned rapidly and most of the second half was usually spent wandering by himself in an open part of the field, or rolling on the ground.  He really liked to kick the ball and run, but got intimidated when he was in a crowd of kiddos all chasing and kicking at the ball.

 

He had fun (most of the time), and what more can this former soccer-playing mama ask for?  Here's my little unicorn lion before his first game - the size small shirt is almost a dress - he wore number 6, just like his mama wore in high school (I just might have been the first one to the t-shirt pile to pick out his shirt :) ):

He had a pretty big fan club. Throughout the season, he was lucky enough to have Grandma, Grandpa, Nana, Papa, Poppy, Aunt Brandi, Uncle Ryan and Lincoln, Cousin Sarah, Great Grandma Dot, Aunt Karen and Wyatt all come to watch him play.  And of course his full time cheering section - Mommy, Daddy and Olivia, who really wanted to be out on the field:

Jack always had energy during warm ups:

GOOOAAAALLLL!

Here's the team deep in a half time strategy session

And a couple of action shots. There were 2 girls on his team, Ava and London, who were on the older end of the age range, and really knew what they were doing.  When they weren't fighting each other for the ball, they definitely scored the vast majority of the teams goals.

 

And a video that pretty much sums up Jack's first soccer season:

Yay for the Unicorn Lions!