Catching up on so many posts that haven't been written since Halloween :-)
SPL played soccer this fall with AYSO and John was his head coach again. His team was made up of 4 boys from his school and some others from other local public schools. They chose the Purple Lightning as their team name :-)
We were fortunate to have 3 coaches and involved parents this year. Each of the kids made significant progress as an individual as well as a team.   The season is September through mid-November so just when they really start gelling, it was unfortunately time to end the season. It was amazing to see the difference in 6 year old players vs. 5 year olds (last year). And thinking back to the beginning when they first met, all of us could see how far they'd come during their season together: they were much more able to spread out and not all rush toward the ball; passing became part of the game towards the end of the season and ball handling was good throughout. Major areas of improvement were time it took to throw in the ball (thanks Martyn!), passing, and corner kicks (SPL got some
toward the end of the season (here is the
). For SPL, he also improved on his
even when it was being controlled by an opposing player.
We also had 3 coaches from the UK help all the AYSO teams throughout the season and Martyn, from Liverpool, ended up staying with us for 4 weeks (families put the coaches up during their 10 weeks in the Bay Area). It was fun to have him around: he's a 22 year old soccer player, recent college grad, and also only child :-). And SPL enjoyed having a younger person to hang out with in addition to his usual mom.
We won some games and we lost some games but I can't remember all the details (AYSO rules are we don't keep score officially). The important part was SPL learned the importance of practice, teamwork, and staying focused. He seems to be a mid-fielder according to his dad. He'll be playing recreational soccer this spring too so we'll see how that goes.
Photos:
First Game: Purple Lightning v. Blue Sharks
Second Game: Purple Lightning v. Cheetahs
Third Game: Purple Lightning v. Tangerine 17
Fourth Game: Purple Lightning v. Green Raptors
Fifth Game: Purple Lightning v. Red Eagle Strikers
Sixth Game: Purple Lightning v. Black Ninjas (SPL was sick for this game)
Great season Purple Lightning!