Soccer Champion!

So. How much of the soccer saga to tell....

Last season, Eddie's team won only one game and were blown out in most of them. This season started in a similar fashion (losses of 9-1 and 9-0 in the first two games.) But the boys on Eddie's team didn't give up and neither did their coach - I've never met someone so patient and determined to stay the course. (See this previous post from Jayne to see what type of Coach he has been for Eddie.)

Slowly but surely his coach's patience paid off and the team really came together.

A few weeks ago the team played in a weekend tournament. They won their first two games fairly easily but faced two really difficult teams the next day. They won both games in dramatic [believe it or not] fashion. It was awesome... except that Eddie and I weren't there for the second two games. They were on Sunday and we were doing our best to teach Eddie that the world doesn't revolve around us 24-7. But man.... I was sad that he missed that amazing experience.

This past weekend was the season-ending tournament and, fortunately, it was only held on Saturday. They won their early game 5-0 - Eddie scored goal number 4, I think. That afternoon the championship was set against the last team to beat Eddie's team (6-2 despite being one player short.) They are really talented and have two players that left Eddie's team for greener pastures when the team was struggling. Even my brother, who was in town, watched the other team warm up and thought they were a bit much for Eddie's team.

Somehow, Eddie and his teammates showed they were listening to the coach all along and played a great, team game, winning 3-0. Eddie played defense for about half of the game and helped preserve the shutout. I was very proud of him and all of the players on the team. But I was even happier that he got to experience that - working hard and having it pay off.



Great Job Eddie!