St. Monica Soccer

We signed Claire up to play soccer through the highly recommended CYC league here in St. Louis. The parish we get to play with is called St. Monica's and is very convienently located about 1 minute from our place. So close we could really walk there.

There are 18 girls on Claire's team and Claire loves it. I loved taking pictures of her on her first game. Her uniform made me smile as her legs are so short that the socks went all the way up her legs and her shorts were so long they came to her knees so there was no visible part of Claire's legs--almost as if she were playing in black tights.

I didn't get a picture of Claire in the Keeper uniform, which was a shame, but she was one cute Keeper. Stuart and I have nicknamed her "Attack Dog" when she's on the field. A lot of the time Claire will stand in the grass, almost not paying attention. However when the ball comes in her area and the coach yells "Go, Claire!" She takes off running like a bullet to the ball, bull dozing her way through until she makes contact with the ball, stays with it until it gets taken away, then goes back to her position until she hears the next "Go, Claire!"

When Claire takes off running Stuart will sometimes make growling/howling/barking noises because it is really like an owner saying, "Attack, Fido." and the dog takes off after it's prey. It is so much like what Claire does, then trots back home after the mission is accomplished.

I am glad Claire is enjoying soccer since it is a sport I understand and love. I just have to bite my tongue so I don't coach from the sidelines. I always want to give her instructions but don't want her to get confused. She is starting to learn positions, but still doesn't understand they don't need 3 people on the same team all trying to dribble the ball together. Again, it's the attack dog mode. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.