Go Blue Belles

So, you may not remember this, but Fall of 2015 you were a Blue Belle.   Your friend Kayla (see below) was playing, and, to our surprise when we asked if you wanted to play 3 on 3 no-goalie soccer, you said yes.   We were surprised mainly because organized sports and co-ordination aren’t really your thing.   But we forgot that fashion is.    Seriously, this picture was taken on the first day of practice.  

 

Your mother volunteered me to be the assistant team manager so you and Kayla could be on the same team.   For the record, I know as much about coaching soccer as I do raising a daughter, i.e. nothing.   My role as ATM consisted of chasing random balls, repeatedly fishing balls out of the back of the nets, herding cats, and cursing quietly under my breath.   The point is- we weren’t very good.  

You, Lillie, Kayla, Ellie, Gurlin, Nia

  

 

But damn we had a good time.   I was shocked.   You loved the practices, mostly because it was a new group of friends to goof-off with.   You loved all the drills and playing keep away.   But you didn’t have any killer instinct.   At first, your go-to move was to run about 6 feet behind the scrum and toss your hair around dramatically.   But, by the end of the season, we’d figured out your natural position- defense.     You figured out really quickly that letting the other team come to you and then punting the ball out of bounds was a solid move that required minimal effort.   So that was your thing.   Granted, mostly you made interesting designs in the grass, or schemed for more half-time juice drinks, or worked on dramatic hair flipping, but you got markedly better as the season went on.   At the end of the season, you got "Most Improved," which was more a comment on where you started.   And one of my favorite memories from the season was smoking Annabelle B.’s team in the last game after they crushed us a month before.    Your father is a petty man.