I am a soccer mom

Charlie has found a sport he loves to play.

This year he discovered sports, in all of their glory. He follows baseball, and hockey, football, and even basketball. He reads the sports section of the newspaper in the morning, and watches games on tv.

But the only sport he really likes to play, is soccer. He has tried baseball, and will play basketball, but he doesn't enjoy them as much. His favorite position? Goalie.

He's really got a leg on him! Last night he nearly made a goal, from his own goal.

With his wide circle of friends, he often finds himself pitted against buddies on other teams. Which makes it even more critical to save that goal!Whew. He does feel pretty bad when one gets through. I have to remind him that he is fairly small compared to that giant, regulation sized net, and they will score on him now and then.

He usually plays goalie for half the game, then plays other positions the other half.

It has been so much fun to watch him develop his skills through the years. He has made rapid improvement this year. The combination of a very young, very enthusiastic coach, and a week at the Sheila McGill Soccer Camp (highly recommended) have turned him into a pretty good player.

And nothing says summer like sitting in a lawn chair, with your toes in the grass, surrounded by the shouts of kids in brightly colored t-shirts racing around the fields. Other than the game we sat through in the rain, earlier in the season, it has been a delightful summer for spectating and cheering the teams on.

I wish they had offered soccer when I was younger. It's a sport that most anyone can play, and you don't have to be very good, or very fast, to participate. You don't need a lot of equipment, and it's a great work-out. In fact, Mike was reading that soccer is the number one sport for cardio fitness.

I hope that Charlie will keep at it, unless he decides to dive in to the whole lacrosse scene, which he became quite obsessed with this last year as well....