First soccer game

This last Saturday Julien had his first real soccer game. And I have to say, it was fun to watch him play. Basically, Julien made all the points for his team and one kid on the other side made all the points for his team. I guess it shouldn't have been a surprise that he would do so well, considering his speed and his love of soccer, but it was kind of amazing to watch him control the ball. He is aggressive in the field. In soccer they let the kids play the field without shouting directions. The concept is basic: you try to hit the ball into the goal and not let the other team hit the ball into their goal. Much simpler than t-ball or football (I played football with Julien in the yard last night. I tried to teach him what little I understand about football, but it was just too complicated. We ended up just playing throw and chase).

In the beginning of the game you could see that Julien was surprised to be challenged by the other team. But once he got into it he started to figure out how to maneuver the ball away from the other players (sometimes from his own team!). Julien even passed the ball a few times to his friend Jun. I felt guilty that I was so proud of how well he played, but as Richard said, some things he enjoys and is enthusiastic about, but with such things as swimming he clearly struggles. Soccer, as Julien once said, is his sport.