Kenzi's first season in soccer

What a wonderful season we had. Mackenzi really enjoyed playing soccer and getting to know her teammates. Coach Eric was a wonderful coach, and we look forward to next season with the Mermaids. Unfortunately once I got pregnant, and couldn't do anything but sleep, with this first trimester, I didn't maintain Kenzi's blog for her games. I was keeping track of the wins and losses, and then the last three games, I didn't write down on my list. I have the information, but will have to search it out.

The girls had an "end of the season" party at Alyson's house. Coach Eric arranged for a Mermaid cake, and each of the girls received a "Little Mermaid" figurine off the cake. They also got a gift bag with an Ariel cell phone, and a few other Mermaid type gifts. The girls had so much fun playing together. They received their trophies from Coach Eric for the season, and he even had an additional trophy for each of the girls with something special engraved on them. Kenzi's was from her first two goals that she scored in the season on September 8th.

I'll continue blogging with information about their tournament they had on November 17th. They won two games and tied one game. It was a fun day. Kenzi had quite the crew on the sidelines - with Nana, Papa, Connor, Trevor, Aunt Kari, and her cousin Gary all there rooting her on! Of course Brian and I were there as well. Vannetta even came to her last game. It was a lot of fun. Kenzi played really well and so did the other girls.

Can't win 'em all! Mermaids 3 -- Kickers 9 (10.13.07)

Well, even though the game was not a winning game, Mackenzi played her heart out. She scored 2 of the 3 goals that her team made on Saturday. She also is learning more and more how to keep the other team from scoring. When she is playing defense, and the other team is heading to the goal with the ball, Kenzi is learning to either get in front of them and try to kick the ball off to the side, or to just run alongside them and try to kick to ball away. Her team is really learning to be excited when they score a point. In the beginning of the season, one of them would score and the rest of the team wasn't sure how to be excited for their team as a whole. Here is a picture that Nana got of the girls giving each other a high five. I believe Olivia was able to get the ball in a position where Mackenzi could score this time! Nana was still in town and so we got a ton of pictures from the game! Usually I'm busy videotaping the game, and it's difficult to take digital pictures at the same time, so that's why the pictures come mostly from practices or Friday Night Lights. Daddy didn't get to make the game because he was still not feeling well, but he did call about halftime to check on how things were going! Nana was able to capture a picture of Mackenzi after she just kicked the ball in the goal and scored for her team!

Friday Night Lights

We had the opportunity to go to Friday Night Lights again this past week. The great part was that even though Daddy was at home healing from having his wisdom teeth taken out, Nana was in town! Mackenzi was very excited to show Nana what Friday Night Lights is all about, now that she likes it, that is! She was surprised that two of her teammates from the Mermaids, Olivia and Ariel came and played. Her coach, Coach Eric was there as well. In this short time of being on the Mermaids, it amazes me at how much the girls really enjoy playing together. When we arrive at practices or games, the girls are giving each other hugs and are happy to see one another and when it's time to go, Kenzi will run back to the field to give her teammate a hug goodbye. She really enjoys the friendships that she has created this season.

Here's a couple of sweet pictures of Mackenzi from that evening. . .

Mermaids 8 -- Bluebonnets 4 (10/6/07)

What a great game on Saturday! Mackenzi was so excited - we had plans for some family to come see her game and then celebrate Brian's birthday afterwards. Unfortunately the highway was closed for Memaw and Pepaw (they did eventually find another route - but didn't make the game) but Aunt Sara and Uncle Phillip made it! Kenzi was a little bit shy about getting out there and showing them all she's got - but she still did play a great game. She scored two goals this game!

The Mermaids were definitely dominating the game. . .when one team is ahead by 4 or more points, the other team is allowed to add an additional player to the field. Up to this point, the other teams we've played have been able to add players - but the Mermaids have remained consistent with just their 3 on the field at a time. Once the Bluebonnets were able to add another player, they were able to begin scoring on the Mermaids. A few goals might have slipped by Kenzi when she was being shy paying attention to Uncle Phillip on the sidelines! Nonetheless, it was a great game, and the girls had a lot of fun!
Memaw and Pepaw made it to the house and we went to dinner with them for Brian's birthday. We had a great time, and Kenzi got to play a little more soccer in the backyard with Aunt Sara and Uncle Phillip. She was definitely not shy then! (It won't let me post pictures, but I will try again later!)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Mermaids 8 --- Stingrays 2 (9/29/07)

Prior to Saturday's game, we took Mackenzi to the Friday Night Lights special training on Friday. She agreed to go because Ashlyn had planned to be there, and Mackenzi wanted to see her. She told me, "Mom, if I just want to leave, then we can just leave." And I agreed - we don't want her to feel like she has to be there if she doesn't want to. But, we were excited to see that she thoroughly enjoyed herself in the hour of skills training and the last hour of scrimmaging. Ashlyn came and they played in a scrimmage together. They had a great time.

Then our game on Saturday was great. As an added surprise, Nana and Papa came into town Saturday morning, so they were able to go to her game as well. It was a 3:30pm game, so all the parents came prepared with wet wash cloths, spray bottles, water, ice, etc. . . Although, it wasn't as hot as we thought it was going to be, there was a bit of a breeze.

Coach Eric was scheduled to be out of town, and so he asked if we could coach Saturday. Of course! We knew that Alyson was going to be out of town, and assumed that Ariel and Olivia would be also because Coach was going to be gone - but to our surprise, Ariel and Olivia showed up for the game! I was so excited about that!

The girls all played really well and worked together as a team. In fact, this was the first game that when someone made a goal, ALL the girls got really excited! Before they were sort of not understanding that they could be excited when their team made a goal. So that was exciting to see. Mackenzi scored one goal and nearly scored a goal that would have been awesome! She came around the left of a player from the other team and sort of "hooked" the ball toward the goal - but it wasn't sharp enough and went out of bounds just to the right of the goal. It was a great effort though! Ashlyn scored about 3 goals and Olivia scored 4 goals. Kate and Ariel were instrumental in kicking the ball in and passing it to Olivia and Ashlyn so they could be freed up to score for the team!

I had a great time and definitely came to appreciate what Coach Eric goes through when he coaches each Saturday. She's really enjoying playing soccer. She gets home from her practices and games and wants to continue playing - it's really funny to watch her.

Mermaids (?) vs Lil' Sis (?) 9-22-07

I have no idea what the score was on Saturday's game. We played at noon - and boy, was it a hot scorcher that day! The girls were just rolling with sweat. We had them under umbrellas when they weren't playing and were giving them water to drink every few seconds!

It also so happened, that one of the girls from our church was playing for the other team. From the time that Mackenzi found out Maddie was playing on that team and that they were playing her last Saturday, she has gotten teary-eyed saying that she didn't want to play Maddie's team. Brian and I didn't mention it again until that morning and then she heard the team name, "Lil' Sis" and said, "That's Maddie's team! I don't want to play her!" Well, needless to say, it wasn't her best game. Her coach was surprised at her - telling her that she needed to start running!

We have no idea what the score was. . .Kenzi didn't score any goals either. She did block a goal from happening against her team, so that was good. When we left the field, she asked, "And I don't have to play Maddie's team anymore?" And I assured her that no, she didn't have to play her team again this season.

They practiced on Monday of this past week but Wednesday was rained out. She had a great time on Monday night. I have pictures to post, but my computer at home has crashed, so I'll have to be creative on how to upload the pictures. During the practice, the girls found a little bitty frog. They were so captivated by it and were standing around in a circle. The girls wanted to take turns holding the little thing. It was hilarious because several times, in passing the frog, they would drop it and then they would all back up and squeal in this high pitched voice. It was really fun to see them all interested in this little frog. We had to coax them to go back to practicing. Brian kept a close eye on the frog during the rest of the practice by putting it in the "mesh cup holder" of his chair.

We're looking forward to this week's game. There will only be 3 of the girls at the game - the coach's girls will be out of town and then another little one will be out of town. I'm actually going to be coaching the girls on Saturday. It should be interesting. Hopefully Brian can take over my role of capturing the game on video. Stay tuned for pictures!