Soccer Star

I was excited when I got the last flier from Stepping Stones, which is a local agency that provides recreational activities for people with disabilities.  For the first time I saw soccer listed as one of the activities.  This seemed like a much better fit for Bobby than baseball since there is more running around.  So I signed him up for his first organized sporting activity.  Our life is such that there is no way of asking, "Hey Bobby, would you like to try playing soccer, baseball....?"  I just have to decide for him and take him along for the ride.

Bobby has never seen a soccer game.  We don't have a soccer ball at home.  If he has ever had any introduction to soccer, it would have had to occurred at school.  So our expectation of how soccer practice was going to go was extremely low.

Hey Bobby, rule number one of all soccer stars....you have to wear shoes!!!

When he got to the Miracle Field, which is a hard surface baseball field that is wheelchair and walker accessible, he went right into the field and started running around.  Yay, hurdle one is completed!  This same time last year Bobby would have probably refused to go in with this many people.  However, he immediately took his shoes off.  Oh Bobby!!!  He wasn't too interested in the group stretching and getting to know each other activities.  We had to keep bringing him back to the group.

When it was time to practice kicking the ball back and forth with a partner, Bobby did a little better when he was further away from the group.  He stayed in the dugout and kicked the ball to Daddy, just like when we are at home and Bobby stands in the garage and kicks a ball to Daddy standing in the driveway.

He did go out onto the field and kick the ball around with Jenny, a Stepping Stones staffer, for a couple of minutes.

He also spent time really watching the other players and trying to figure out what the heck this was all about!!

He then went to the dugout and sat down.  He was finished for the day.

We stayed for about 25 minutes of the hour long soccer practice.  Funny thing about this soccer team.  It is made up of "kids" ages 8-18.  Some of the older boys were so excited to be there and announced that they were "really good" at soccer.  Will Bobby be announcing the same thing when he is 18? Only time will tell.  For now, we will work on staying a little longer at each practice.