That's right, it's been a while (3 months) since we published a video. Jenn was kind enough to video Oakley's soccer game yesterday (no small task). Oakley had herself a good game, and I boiled it down to about 4 minutes of video total. This isn't every play that Oakley was involved in, but it is a good representation of what she did well. So, enjoy! (Oakley is number 13, if that helps you.)
Well, we're in the spring soccer season, which means we're missing games pretty regularly. Rain seems to be killing us, especially the U7's, Aspen's team. We finally got our first games in on Saturday, and both were a lot of fun.
Aspen was her typical responsible self, and the final score of her game was 1-1. She was a big part of that. Frankly, her team has come a long way over the winter (absence makes them better, apparently). There was some passing, and the team was quite effective as a whole.
Oakley had a solid game as well. For her, that meant poking home three goals during the game and colliding with Zoe and a bunch of other girls. If we renamed the team now, we'd be called the Wrecking Balls.
Today's practice was pretty funny. Among our spectators for practice were a couple of Tennessee Titans (one former, one current). One of them has a daughter on the team. The other you have probably heard of... he's super freaky. Well, we were having a good time, and then the rains came. We've made a point with the girls that we'll play through anything. That meant that we just kept on playing. Well, let's say that certain members of our crowd made it to the car pretty quickly. Twenty minutes later, the girls were still playing duck duck goose, wet bottoms and all.
Yesterday, Oakley's team was outmatched. No doubt, the other team was better, and they really put it to us. But Oakley was as good as the players on that team, and she really battled. Throughout the game, she never gave up.
At one point in the second half, after the score was well out of hand, the other team had a break away to the goal. Oakley chased it down from behind and was closing, but there was no way she'd get there in time. She kept going, though, and managed to arrive at the same time as the ball did at the goal. She managed to deflect it just enough that it clanked off the post and back into the field, but Oakley couldn't keep her balance... she went face first into the post. The goal itself even moved six inches.
Did Oakley cry? No, she did not. She got up, and chased the play back down the field. One good pass from Ally later, and Oakley was in on goal by herself, where she finished off the play with aplomb, for the only Volcanoes' goal of the game.
OK, so it's not really that important, but still... the brutally hot weather has finally come to an end. The average temperature during August was really just under 100, and it was the worst month I can remember in Nashville by far. But it is over, and we are on to the fun of playing soccer.
For the first time, though, a soccer post is going to be all about someone other than Aspen. Oakley is playing ball for the first time this fall and she's doing great. We're two practices and two games into the season as of today. And Oakley is two goals into the season as well. Oakley pounded a couple home today and displayed a deftness with the ball that legitimately surprised both Jenn and me. It was excellent.
So, congrats to Oakley and the Volcanoes for their great start to the soccer season.
Alright, this video is long-ish and unedited, but it has some great shots of Aspen playing soccer. We just had our last game with this team over the weekend and Aspen played her typical game. Aspen is not the one scores a lot of goals, but she is a high effort player who is really quite good and stopping goals, hustling, and kicking the ball hard. She's number 7...
