Soccer Team Party

Cora's soccer season came to an end Sunday, with another win. The Blue Sharks finished the season 7-2, a record to be proud of.

Cora did so well playing in goal - she wasn't the main goalkeeper, but she put in quite a few minutes, and was solid. In one game, she made a remarkable save, with the ball bouncing up and down off the cross bar and into her arms, to the cheers of everyone.

Coach Stace was so pleased with how much the players learned, as he drilled into them the ideas of controlling and passing the ball.








On Thursday, our normal practice day, we had our team party at a local pizza place. Twelve of the 13 players made it, and it was great hanging out with them and their families one last time. Cora (and we) are going to miss these guys!


Stace gave a little speech, and he and assistant coach Nelson handed out the trophies and a little laminated placard Stace made for each player.

It had a bit of info about the player, a team photo and an action shot my dad took over the last month or so.








Following the presentation, the team mom handed cards and gifts to Stace and Nelson - gift cards to Best Buy!

Several players' families also generously gave Stacey individual gifts and cards, with some lovely words about how much their players learned from him.

Wow! What an amazing first experience he had as a youth sports coach! You hear stories about things going poorly, but we had an amazing set of players and parents.















 The pizza place featured games that require quarters. I know this, because every five minutes, Violet was asking me or Stacey for a quarter. I went home and later found a half-dozen bouncy balls in my purse.

Cora had a fantastic experience, too, and was near tears this week thinking about saying goodbye to her teammates. They are all her friends, she was saying.

Hopefully we can see some of them again in the future, either on a team next spring or this summer if Stace runs some casual trainings at the park like he did last summer.