Last Saturday, Balin went to the first session of “Mini-kickers.” It wasn’t actually a soccer game – but a group that promised fun adventures while also working on soccer skills.

We arrived to find to two of Balin’s friends (Trevor and Alex) also in the group.

From First Soccer

As soon as the coaches started speaking, they gained instant credibility with the adults simply because of their British accents (although our German friend was much less impressed, and considering their record against the English…but I digress.) In addition to their soccer cred, the teachers had a great sense of how to engage young kids and get them to have fun moving the soccer ball. The field became “soccer island,” and almost immediately, all of the kids were dribbling the ball independently while pretending to be different animals, or in one case, kicking the ball at their unfortunate robot parents in order to turn them back into humans.

We were proud that when the first game was announced, Balin was the first to take off out of the group, yelling ZOOM! and doing his best cheetah-playing-soccer impression. When it came time to find and imitate other animals, Balin made us laugh by correcting the coach, “No, I saw a shark! Not a [whatever it was.]” There were no sharks in the game.

It was a great morning and we’re looking forward to many more soccer adventures in the weeks and years ahead.

From First Soccer

From First Soccer

From First Soccer

From First Soccer

Of course, Athena had fun running around the field.

She may have a future in sports, too:

From First Soccer

From First Soccer