GOOOOOOOOOAL!

Saturday's are for Soccer.   In the fall we were lucky in that Zach and Tyler's games were played nearly consecutively. With Tyler's Academy starting in the second half of Zach's game Shannon wasn't able to watch much of Zach's games,  the families' total time at the soccer fields was held to a minimum.

This Season the schedule is not so compact,  let it be sufficient to say that one Ellis could be at the soccer fields for 4-5 hours each Saturday.

Edi and I will spend a large about of time at the playground,  she loves slides and climbing.  Which is great,  because she could slide down and climb back up (usually by herself) all day.  Here she wanted to sit and spin, but it didn't spin by itself.  The look on her face is one of impatience, waiting for me to spin her while I snapped the photo.  However,  she didn't like the spinning and shortly after this we were headed back to the slide.

We still don't keep score.  I am actually OK with this,  I really want Zach to focus on doing the right things,  and less on simply winning.  He does need to pass more,  but sometimes it is just easier for him to score himself.  Today his team was down 2-Nil before Zach even get's into the game (on offence).  His coach has an impossibly complex algorithm for determining who plays and when they play;  this systems really gets thrown off when someone unexpectedly doesn't make it to the game, like today.

Regardless, when Zach finally gets in (late in the first half),  he spends the first minute or two working the ball up the field,  passing and the like.  Then a light bulb goes off,  I think Zach realizes that he can operate at a slightly faster speed than most of the others on the field (maybe this was coach's strategy,  to use his fresh legs to our advantage.)     In the next 8 minutes (separated by the briefest of half-times) Zach will score 6 goals.  This reign of terror also included two assists so it wasn't as though he is a complete ball hog.  To be even fairer to Zach,  his ability to challenge the other team for the ball is second to none,  so most of his goals come from stellar defense.

Even though Tyler likely didn't know what is brother had done on the adjacent field,  Tyler today would not be outdone.  Since he learned to walk,  I have warned Zach that Tyler may get better than him at many things.  Tyler likes to practice and he can be very thoughtful in his actions.  According to Geoffrey Colvin in Talent is Overrated this is an important ability.  However,  up until today,  Tyler's interest in soccer had been less than intense (he is only 4!).  He basically enjoyed soccer because his best friend Rhett is on the team,  and they get to sit in cool chairs on the sideline.   Today though Tyler scored three goals.  He was connected most of the game,  and having a blast running around out there.  As he develops his skills in dribbling and kicking,  he seems to be enjoying the sport more and more.

Here is one last picture of my little girl enjoying the playground.