Spartans

Jonah's soccer season is officially underway.  He had a lot of practices this summer and sometimes I wondered if we should have made the jump to competition, but I'm glad we did and so is Jonah.

Jonah looks so grown up in this picture!  Jonah has learned so much and he has really developed as a player.  He has pushed himself and is doing things that he didn't think he would be able to do when he started, I love that! 

I'm so glad that Jonah and Christian are on the same team.  It makes it more fun for them and I love that Angie and I can carpool and visit during the games. 

I really like Jonah's coach.  He strikes a great balance of pushing the boys and expecting their best and making them feel good about themselves and their progress.  He used to play professional soccer in Europe so he is very knowledgeable about the game and sports conditioning.  He is really good at having the boys stretch and warm up and push themselves while listening to their bodies.

Jonah plays midfield which means he runs a lot!  The games are 35 minute halves and sometimes he will play almost the entire game.  The fields are huge and he does a good job at running back for defense even though you can tell he is exhausted.

This is such a Ham face.  We all purse our lips.  I purse my lips when I am mad and my kids know to back off when they see it! 

I'm surprised that Jonah likes midfield so much, I thought he would want to be an attacker.  He is supposed to back them up and always stay a little bit behind them in case they need him and then he has to hustle back to help the defenders. 

Jonah works so hard in his games.  He is doing a really good job at being aggressive even when the kids are bigger than him, that has always been hard for him.

Jonah has gotten off some great shots in the last few games.  I thought for sure a few of them were going in, but the goalie blocked them.  They have really good goalies in this league, we have a great one too!

Jonah is really developing in his footwork.  He does a great job of dribbling around the other team and switching directions to throw them off.  He also does great passes. 

Jonah's team is pretty new, a lot of them are straight from rec.  They lost all of their games in their tournament, but they gave most of the teams a run for their money.  They won their season opener and they lost by one on Saturday, I thought for sure they were going to pull it off.  The team they played on Saturday was a team they played during the tournament.  They lost 5-1 to them during the tournament and Saturday they lost 1-0.  It is great to already see that much improvement.  Jonah is having a great time playing soccer and we are having a great time watching him.