Banner Day

Tonight was Jenna's first soccer game of the season.  I'm not gonna lie,  I'm a little burned out on soccer right now.  Britton's first game was last Saturday and it was cold and rainy.  Tonight was cold and windy.  Spring soccer around these parts means that I will be sitting through 18 cold/wet/windy soccer games and 2 soccer games with good weather. On second thought, perhaps 2 good weather games is a bit optimistic.  Fall soccer I can handle, spring soccer makes me cold and miserable just thinking about it.

I digress.

So, as we are heading out the door to Jenna's game I thought to myself, "Should I get the camera?" and then answered my own question with, "Nah, we'll take it another time.  If you've seen one you've seen them all, right?"  All the way to the game we listened to Jenna tell us how much she LOVED soccer.  It has never bothered her in the least that she doesn't really touch the ball during the game very much and has never scored a goal during her 3 seasons of soccer.  She just loves being on a team and hanging out with her friends and if she gets to kick the ball during the game all the better. She is happy when they win, and she is happy when they lose, she just LOVES soccer.

First game, first quarter and the coach puts Jenna in as a forward.  She went and stood in front of the other team's goal as instructed and before I knew it the ball came to her and she was somehow able to turn around and kick it toward the goal.  It hit the goal post but instead of bouncing out it bounced back in the goal!  Was that Jenna?  MY Jenna?!  I knew that making a goal would make her entire year.  Then to my utter amazement she scored 2 more times in the next few minutes!  That's right, Jenna made not one, not two, but 3 goals in the first quarter of her first game!!  After she made the first goal she didn't bother going where the ball was, she just stood right in front of their goal (apparently they don't call off sides at this age).  This strategy worked as she was able to kick it in each time the ball got away from the group that was actually following the ball.

If the game ended right then we would have all been super excited, but at the beginning of the 3rd quarter my heart stopped a beat when I saw her put the goalie shirt on and run toward their goal.  Oh dear. Every time the other team got close to the goal I started to panic.  Thank goodness that most of the girls still kick it right to the goalie even when the whole goal is open.  She made it through the quarter without letting anyone score.  It was definitely a banner day for Jenna!!