The Swift Ninjas Rock!

I may have mentioned in a previous post that Tyler and I suckered ourselves into coaching Max's first ever soccer team.

Well, this wasn't just any team - these were the Swift Ninjas!

Maxwell T - Nathan - Connor - Zephan - William - Noah

It got kind of tricky at times since Kelly and Everett had to be along for the ride for all of our practices AND games while we were doing our darnedest to teach our team a thing or two about the sport of soccer.  I may or may not have lost Ev during one of the games only to find him in the middle of a group of big boys who were warming up for their game on the field next to ours.  He was having a blast playing with them, but I'm sure I got some head shakes from parental units on the side.  The team parents and siblings really stepped in and were all so good to help out with our kiddos.

The Swift Ninjas were SO cute to watch and really learned a lot during the season.  It was so cool to see their progress each week in the games.  Our team cheer was cute  (Everett insists on doing it over and over and over again).  Either Tyler or I would yell, "Swift Ninjas!" and the boys would reply, "Hi-Ya!" (like a karate chop) as we all threw our hands in the air.  We really, really loved our little team and both of us got emotional at the end-of-the-season party. We miss those little guys.

They gave us a soccer ball that all of the boys signed in their adorable handwriting as well as a $50 gift certificate to Red Robin.  So nice!  And my hair looks nasty because it curls and kinks in the rain, which we had been standing in right before this party during the last game...in case you were wondering.

Max was so fun to watch.  He's such a little guy and so Ty drilled into his head that, "You may not be the biggest kid on the field, so you have to be the fastest."  Boy, did he deliver.  He'd come from the opposite end of the field to get involved in the play and scored pretty much every game.  He is so enthusiastic about everything in life and soccer was no exception.  But he's just as excited about watching from the sidelines too...he would run like a madman up and down the sidelines, cheering everyone on.  He LOVED his teammates.

So the first season of soccer was a success!  Max is now trying to decide between soccer and flag football for next fall.  If he chooses soccer, Ty may coach again; we're not doing the double-coach thing next time.  Now we have him signed up for basketball, which should be pretty fun/funny to watch.  Naturally, Max is ecstatic. :)