STEEL Soccer

This past weekend was Ethan's last soccer tournament for the U10 Steel.

It was at Cargill Regional Sports Complex in Shreveport, Louisiana.

We left early on Saturday morning to drive to Shreveport and met the team at the field.

Coach Mark talking to part of the team before the game.

Heading to the bench to get ready.

The waiting soccer bags.

Ethan with Sarah, Maddy, and Zack.

Sarah and Maddy are both in Ethan's French Immersion class at school, so they have been friends and together in school since Kindergarten.  Ethan was sitting on the bench next to Taylor, the girl wearing the pink cleats.  Sarah and Maddy came over and made everyone scoot so that they could sit next to Ethan.  They are so funny.  Ethan is such a cutie and they know it.  

Sarah has even said she would marry Ethan.

Watching the action from the bench with Grant, Maddy, Sarah, Taylor,
and one of the goalies, Daniel.

 Meeting with the team at half-time.

From left to right:  Kyler, Brody, Josh, Grant (on ground), Taylor, Sarah, Aiden,
Daniel (in green behind the bench), Landon, (behind Coach), Coach Mark, Ethan, Ian (on ground), Maddy, Ben, Bryce, Dallas, Zack, Coach Andrew, and Coach Ian.

 Ethan has worked very hard this season and has grown so much as a soccer player.

He is running faster, working the ball smarter, and is becoming more aggressive on the field.

At the beginning of the season, Ethan was a very passive player.

He is so shy and that personality really comes across on the field.  He would let the other boys have the ball if they even looked like they might be going after it.  In the final games of the season, he decided to let some of that go and fight for the ball himself.

They lost their first game on Saturday, 2-0, but they played hard and worked together as a team.

After the game, we went to find our hotel and grab a bite to eat, and to change into the purple jersey.

The boys played hard again in their second game, but lost 4-0.

Kyler, Bryce, Ethan, and Aiden waiting to sub into the game.

 After the game, the whole team went over to the Louisiana Boardwalk to walk around and eat dinner.  It was a huge outdoor mall with lots of places to shop and eat.  We walked around with Landon and his mom, dad, and sister, Elaina. 

We decided to eat at the Salt Grass Steak House but the wait was pretty long, so we looked around a bit while we waited.  We looked around in the Nike store for a bit and then went into the Bass Pro Shop.

 There were tons of cool things to see in the Bass Pro Shop.  They had an aquarium with lots of fish and turtles in it.  They had lots of camping equipment and stuffed animals.  

They also had animal prints in the floor all over the store, including deer, bear, bobcat, and raccoon.

Our table was finally open at the Stake House after only 45 minutes, so we played tic-tac-toe and Mad Libs while we waited for our food.  Ethan ordered shrimp and chicken tenders and insisted that I order steak so that he could share with me.  I ordered a steak and fried shrimp.  Ethan ate most of my steak.

We were playing games while we waited and I took several pictures of the boys, who sat across the table from me.  I showed the pictures to them and Landon thought Ethan looked so funny in this one, that he laughed so hard, milk came out his nose.  It was pretty funny.

After dinner, we stopped by Orange Leaf to get some yogurt before going to the car.  

Ethan had orange and I had a mix of pineapple and coconut.

We had planned on going home on Sunday morning, but decided to stay and play the final game.

I thought the season continued on, but we heard at the game on Saturday that this was it.

No more practices, no more games.  So we decided to stay and  play the last game of the season.

The boys played their very best in Sunday's game.  Better than I had seen them play all year.  They worked together as a team better than in any game before.  This was also the best I had ever seen Ethan play all season.  They worked really hard and ended the game tied at 1-1.  

They scored their only goal in tournament play and were so excited.

Ethan is so sad that there is no more soccer until fall.

He loves soccer and plans on making as many Saturday morning pick-up games as he can between now and then.  In the fall, he can try out for the U11 STEEL team as well as play rec ball.

Allen, Ethan, and I have tickets to travel with the team to Houston to watch the 

Dynamo professional soccer team play on May 18.