End of Fall Soccer Season Update

Soccer season never really ends at our house. All three of our big kids are already playing winter indoor soccer, attending weekly skills training sessions and Cade's team is still practicing for Northwest Champions League games in Seattle and Portland in December (brrrr). But, all three kids have now ended their regular fall outdoor league season so I thought it was a good time to give an update. This is mostly so they can go back and see how the fall 2010 season went and I can remember their personalities on the field. Feel free to stop reading here if you are not a true soccer fan or you don't want to hear a mom gush about her kids :)

Willem: played in the U11 Kidsports Silver league with the EMFC U10 Rovers. His team finished tied for 2nd (with a 5-2-3 record) in his league of eight 4th and 5th grade U11 teams. Willem played half of each game in goal and the other half on the field, mostly at forward or mid-field. Willem scored about five goals in his ten games and had dozens of amazing saves in goal. He is a ton of fun to watch because he is completely fearless, will show us his 'scissors or 'maradona' moves from time to time and he really hustles the whole time he is on the field. He was the only first grader playing in this league and my guess is he was in the top 20% of the players on the field and probably the best keeper we saw (no mom-bias here :). It is no wonder though, Willem plays hours and hours of soccer each week with his older siblings, cousins and their teammates in addition to his regular games and practices. Way to go Willem and The Rovers!

 Gabrielle: her team, EMFC Athletica, played in the Oregon Premier League (OPL) Premier (the highest Portland-based but still statewide) Division for U11 girls. Her team started off with a couple losses and a tie, all against teams they should have beat but, after their slow start they moved up to 5th in their league of 12 teams and ended with a record of 4-3-4. They gave the top (and undefeated) team (FC Salmon Creek from Washington) its only tie and also tied the 2nd place team (FC Portland). Gabrielle was out for all of October with her broken toe but went to every game and nearly every practice. Before her accident, Elle was starting every game at forward and had one of the best shots on her team with her strong left foot; she also played some outside mid and defense. In the end of season tournament (which Elle did get to play in), Athletica beat FC Portland 1-0 (the top U11 team in Oregon) and beat Eastside 1-0; their only loss was to United SA 0-1 on a very muddy field. It was a great end to a season where the team improved a bunch and they proved they are one of the top teams in the state. Elle loves her team, and the girls on it are her best friends. I am impressed by Elle's commitment to her team and how hard she worked when she was injured, doing lots of push-ups and sit-ups almost every day to help her stay fit. Here are a few pictures the girls took of themselves goofing around in the hotel room this past weekend (and the last one is Aliyah playing in the mud-bowl which was their first game of the tournament!)

 

 

Cade: the EMFC U13 Boca Jrs. played in the OPL's U13 Premier (top) Division and finished 4th out of 8, qualifying them again for the Northwest Champions League (next fall). Their record was 2-2-3 and they had a landmark 3-0 win against the top team in the state, FC Portland (it was FC's only loss this fall), in the final weekend of the OPL season. Cade played at forward and started about 2/3rds of the games, sharing time with Juan, Edgar and Akira. It has been a lot of fun watching Cade improve all the time. He works so hard on and off the practice field, practicing almost every day on his own. He often asks his coach, Joe, what he can do to get better and then works hard to do what Joe recommends. Cade was recommended by his coach to represent the club in the id2 program (an odp-type of program to find potential national team players) but learned he has to wait one more year to try-out. Despite being smaller than most of the boys he plays against (most are 18+ months older than him and the top kids in the state at that older age), Cade still manages to consistently score goals for his team. The best part is Cade is so passionate about soccer and continues to love it more each year. He loves his team and his coach and continues to amaze me with his determination, motivation, speed and passion.

I am a very lucky mom to have such passionate and hard-working kids! I love watching them play and especially love watching them have so much fun doing what they love.