Zoe's "fancy" new soccer cleats.
(She is a girl after my own heart...
loves to be athletic & get out there and play hard
AND loves a good looking, new pair of shoes)
Let me go back and start at the beginning. In February, we got a post card in the mail with info. about the upcoming girls U10 competitive try outs. I didn't think much of it because Zoe wasn't old enough to play U10 soccer...she still had one more year of U8 soccer. Zoe however, gave the post card LOTS of thought. She wanted to know if she would be able to try out. After much persistence on her part, I promised I'd look into it.
After doing some research I found out that on rare occasions they do let children who are too young try out for an older team. From my research, I also found out that although they sometimes let younger players tryout, If an underage player will displace an age-appropriate player, the underage player will not be approved to play on the older age team, even if the younger player is a more skilled player. An age-appropriate player who shows promise as a developing soccer player cannot be displaced by the underage player. In this case, the underage player will be required to play at his/her appropriate-age level.
Approval to tryout requires talking with a Humboldt Youth Soccer League board member and petitioning the HYSL board by pleading your child's case. When I found that out, I passed the information on to Zoe. I figured I had done my homework and that it would end there...I was WRONG. Zoe repeatedly asked if I would petition the board. After more persistence, I did write a letter to the HYSL board. The decision was out of my hands. A couple of weeks past and I received an email saying Zoe was allowed to try out because a previous year's coach felt she could handle moving up to U10's.
We prepared Zoe mentally for tryouts...letting her know that there was a good chance she might not make the team because of her age. She said she understood and gave tryouts her all. In the end, as most of you who read my blog know, she made the team. She was so proud of her accomplishment. Now, fast forward to July...Zoe has been very busy with soccer practice. She currently has practice 3 times a week for 1 1/2 hours each practice. From the bits and pieces of practice I watch she seems to being doing great. Yesterday, I was talking with her coach. He let me know just how great she was doing. He told me he had been coach for years and that he knew Zoe was going to go far if she kept working as hard as she was. He also told me that even if they hadn't decided to form 2 competitive teams this year, Zoe was still one of his top picks and that she would have made the team (despite the age clause I had found out during my research)
Needless to say, we are SUPER proud of our little soccer player!
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