More reasons to love soccer

My son is a soccer stud. He must take after his coaches. First, we have Coach Army of Dad, then the British soccer coaches. Now, let me present to you, his new academy coach. Coach Studboy. Yep, suddenly soccer three times a week does not seem like too much, nor does driving 45 miles one way to do it seem so bad either. See, practice is on Mondays and Wednesdays for the team. Friday, is Hot Rod's special keeper training. Coach Studboy is a keeper coach at a local college in addition to the club team. Here is one of Hot Rod's drills where he learns "soft hands." AoD could explain it, I have no clue. All I know is that Hot Rod is getting better all the time and I have some eye candy to distract me.

Tonight, Hot Rod (on the ground on the far right) practiced for half an hour with the 98 team (he is a 99 - so these boys are all at least a year older than him) and he held his own. Coach Studboy told me that he was very impressed with Hot Rod and surprisingly pleased with how well he did. See, Hot Rod practiced last year with his dad's team of 12-year-olds, so he isn't afraid of the big kids and he gets right in the mix of things.

Here is one of the skills they practiced - not the butt picking, but that throwing technique. Hot Rod excelled.

Coach had Hot Rod come out and practice with the 98s as a keeper while they were doing some shooting and passing drills. Then, when they did some scrimmaging, Hot Rod stayed out there as a keeper still. Here is one of his amazing saves. He comes out and challenges the offense and sometimes startles them into missing their shots. He knows no fear, which scares the crap out of his mom. I've seen him get kicked in the face, take a ball in the face and more and he is just now 8. Scares the crap out of me, but he loves this stuff. Good thing we all like soccer. I have a feeling we'll be doing lots of it this year.