Bend It Like Ellie

When I found out that Elise's best buddy, Sara Jane, was leaving Ellie's school to go to a private school for her last year of Pre-K, I was worried about how Elise would take it. She and Sara Jane have been practically inseparable at school for the last two years. They are as close as close can be. However, a few things happened in the last several months to prevent this from being a total disaster: 1) Sara Jane's family moved to the block right behind our house, making it much more convenient for the girls to get together. 2) Sara Jane's mom and I decided to sign the girls up for a weekend class together so they'd be guaranteed to still see each other on a regular basis.

Sara Jane's older brother Alex had been involved in a great soccer program in a nearby suburb when he was little, so Sara Jane's parents suggested we sign the girls up for that same program. Marty and I both played soccer as kids, and Elise seems to be very coordinated and athletically gifted, and semi-interested in soccer. So we signed her up. Soccer is a strange sport in this country. It seems to me that no one really likes or cares about soccer in any way, yet every child in America plays soccer beginning at a ridiculously young age. In the soccer program the girls are in, at least 75% of the children in the Metropolitan area are also enrolled. It is slightly insane how many children there are in this class. And that doesn't even count the siblings, who are also there, ranging in age from 2 months to 8 years, running around and trying (sort of) to stay out of the way (or in Luke's case, trying to play too). It is complete chaos.

So the question is: Is Elise going to be the next Mia Hamm? I am going to go with a solid "Probably not" although you never can tell when genius emerges, I suppose. Two weeks in, Elise is participating well and doesn't appear to completely hate it. She IS coordinated and fast and does a decent job of keeping her hands off the ball, but hasn't yet uncovered a passion or overwhelming excitement for the sport. But she is still very young! Elise has a great time seeing Sara Jane, if nothing else. The class is slightly disorganized and trying to get 40 3-4 year olds to listen, follow instructions, and not bug one another is a challenge.

Elise really likes the ball kicking drills and the running, but at the end of the class each day they have a little scrimmage which Elise refuses to participate in and declares herself "tired" (which is ridiculous because this child could run in circles for 12 hours straight and never get tired - she has more energy than anyone I have ever know). I am not sure why she doesn't like the actual game playing part, but hopefully she will like it better the more she learns.

This winter, she and Sara Jane will try a dance class, which may be more suited for our little girl anyway, as she does seem to have a passion for dancing and all things fancy. Who needs Mia Hamm anyway?