Swarm

Thank goodness I remembered to look at the letter we received from the YMCA on Wednesday night. Turns out Adam is co-coaching Collin's soccer team. Since practice started on Thursday at 5:15pm Adam didn't have a lot of time to prepare (he just happened to miss the coaches meeting because I have this annoying habit of not thoroughly reading the mail). I guess it's also a good thing that Adam is great with kids...and knows the game so well!

Collin was so excited. Upon leaving the house Thursday morning for school and Matt and Molly's house, he apologized, thinking I wouldn't be able to be there. I assured him I wouldn't miss it for the world. He then told me to remember the video camera, so he could watch himself later! Later in the afternoon, his excitement increased ten-fold when he realized that Ba Pa Minnows and Grandma Honey Honey were in town...so they were able to join us.

Four-year old soccer is about what I expected. After about 45 minutes of organized chaos, Collin's team, the Sharks (previously team #30), was ready to take on the Tigers. The result can best be described as bee-hive soccer...kids swarming around the ball, or in Collin's case, kids swarming around other kids swarming around the ball.

For the first 10 minutes of the game, Collin held his hands together behind his back, emulating a drill the other coach had recommended to remind the kids not to touch the ball. Obviously, this affected his speed. At one point, two kids collided. Collin, instead of keeping up with the ball, experienced 'gawker slowdown'. Collin was also enthralled with the black YMCA referee, who exuded positive energy.

At the beginning of the experience, I was wondering if Collin was having fun. I didn't have to wonder long. Through the entire 'game', Collin had the one of the biggest smiles I have ever seen on his face...which was the absolute highlight of my day.

This is Collin...my observer. He's already looking forward to next Thursday...