Soccer Diva

I brought my long range zoom to Grace's soccer practice on Tuesday and I'm glad I did because I have a feeling we're going to have a lot of gloomy rainy practices from here on out. The clouds and rain have arrived. I took a zillion photos and I'm in the process of uploading 60 to Snapfish as I write this, but for the majority of you that don't want to see all 60 photos I thought I'd do a slightly condensed version. I had a hard time picking favorites so bear with me!

We knew when we signed Grace up for soccer that this was going to be a bit of a stretch for her. For one thing, you can't wear a dress to play. You have to wear scary "too tight" shin guards. You have to run. For a girly girl like Grace these things are terrible. She's been doing a decent job chugging along and seems to enjoy it for the most part. She told the coach she'd rather play with her pink ball but he told her to get used to playing with a white and black one because that's what she'll have to use for games. Tough cookies.

That last image above just cracks me up. I have like 20 more with similar expressions. I kind of doubt Ethan will have that day dreaming look to his soccer photos in a few years. No, I'm pretty sure I'll get way more action shots with him. But with Grace I'll take what I can get.

Like this one where she is actually running.

However most of her running shots look like this one. Yes she runs like a girl. She also walked on her tiptoes 90% of the time until she was 4. I'm pretty sure she still thinks she's a ballerina.

Here's some more semi-action shots. The coach had her practice throwing the ball in one time and I think it may have been one of two times she actually touched the ball the entire time they scrimmaged.

Here's the second. This is an uber-rare shot of Grace attempting to kick the ball.

I'm not sure what she's doing right here. Probably practicing her dance moves.

This is what Grace usually does during the game. She turns her body away from the action in a purely defensive position. Even when her team is playing offense. In fact I don't think she knows the difference between offense and defense.

But look how adorable she is! And paying attention! She may or may not grow up to become a soccer star (highly unlikely but you never know) but at least she's giving it a try. I'm proud of her for that. My hope is that by the end of the season she will think soccer is fun.