Are You Ready For Some "FOOTBALL"????

Well... Soccer that is... Marine Corps Community Services, Semper Fit Youth Sports Soccer program is once again underway. Although baseball remains king here in the House of Payne, the Payne Men certainly enjoy their time behind a soccer ball. Kevin and Sam are on the same team this year. With all the enthusiasm of a bunch of 7 and 8 year olds, their team decided on the name Gladiators. Certainly a name fitting of a young group of warriors our team is shaping up to be. The young Gladiators took the field for the first time this Saturday in a serious blowout of the other team whose name remains unknown. Kevin is enjoying being one of the older kids this year. He had a couple nice runs down the field complete with a couple shots on goal, yet the ball was not destined to make it in the goal... There is always next game. He also got to serve one quarter as a pretty cute (I mean Ferocious) goalie. He really did not need to do much here except a couple goalie kicks. Sam, in my opinion, is the most improved Payne player so far this year! He played his first game in an offensive position. We thought for one brief moment that the ball made it in the goal, only to have it bounce off the side... Oh well, at least he had a shot on goal!!! Pretty impressive! It was fun to see him in the mix this year! After a long fought first battle, the Gladiators walked off the field the victors, beating the other team by a sound 3-0. Both boys agreed that their coaches were awesome and their team "rocked".

A nice drive down the field...

Cool looking Goalie...

Sam with a great kick

Sam back with a good buddy from church and baseball

Later we headed over to the Big Guy field where Andrew has moved up a league to the 11-12's. It was a pretty intense game compared to last year. Andrew and his teammates have dubbed themselves the Hot Shots, a name I feel is pretty accurate after seeing them play their first game! I had only been to one practice with Andrew so far, so I had not really seen his team play. It was pretty impressive. Andrew has the good fortune of playing with the same coach as last year. We were very happy about this because he is wonderful and very good with Andrew. I did think I might kill him, however, when I learned that Andrew would be spending the first game in the goalie box! YIKES!!!! I do not have any pictures of this because I was too nervous to get close enough to him to get any good shots. His old goalie coach was back this year and really worked with him. I have to say, I was impressed. Andrew had several shots on goal and he blocked ALL of them! He looked really good. He even kicked it pretty far down the Field considering he had not really practiced doing that! It was not pretty, but it certainly got the job done. I was so proud of him for jumping right in and taking this tough position with confidence. His goalie coach said he loves working with him because he has so much energy. He stands in the goalie box just bouncing around (focused bouncing) just waiting for his chance to pounce on the ball. Love it! After the Hot Shots took a commanding 5 -0 lead at the half, coach decided to let another kid have a chance as goalie and let Andrew do what he does best... RUN. He played the second half as a Midfielder and made contact a few times. In the end, the Hot Shots won their first game 9-3. Not too shabby:)

Blurry Andrew on the Field. He loves his new cleates because they are Army (as in West Point, not the branch) Colors: Black, Gray and Gold!

"Building a Wall" for a penalty kick

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