Rocco; Bendin' it like Beckham

Rocco played Soccer this year. He was awesome! LOL...

Let me preface these stories by telling you he was, by a full year, the youngest on his team! So give him a little credit as you read on. Why was he so young compared to the other kids? Because we unknowingly signed him up a year early and the lady in our ward who was running the sign-ups just figured we were honest people and didn't even check his birth certificate or ask his birthdate (Her mistake! No Just Kidding! We really are honest people. When we were signing him up for Spring season, we didn't know he was supposed to have been four years old BEFORE the previous FALL season. Apparently they go off the Fall age for a full year).

So Rocco's coaches wanted to focus on the basics. Like dribbling the ball (I think that's what they called it; where you pass the ball back in forth in small kicks between your feet). They never did actually tell the kids how to play Soccer, or the goal of the game. Maybe they figured all the kids had at least played one season prior to this and knew the goal. I dunno. Either way, when the first game rolled around, none of the kids really knew what to do. Especially Rocco. 

So all the "Blue Cheetahs" (Yes, that was their team name. Ahhh! Are you kidding me?!) just ran around chasing the ball, but never stealing it or trying to get it in the goal or even kicking it, or anything resembling soccer. 

So, during half time, being the brilliant mom that I am; I told Rocco that the guys in Black, the "Blackhawks" (now that's a manly and impressive team name!), were on Doctor Doom's team and that his team was the Superhero Squad. I said that they had to get the ball and keep it away from the Doctor Doomians, and that they needed to get the ball (that was secretly an infinity fractal) into the net (that was secretly the infinity vault).
Is all this Superhero lingo totally confusing you? I'm sorry! But I gotta tell you; it worked! It made perfect sense to Rocco!

So what happened? Did they win? Did Rocco score? I'll tell ya...

Rocco got back out there on the field after half time. The person who kicked the ball in (to restart the game) kicked it REALLY far down the field. All the kids ran after it. Rocco ran the fastest (I will say if they were choosing their team name based on speed, Rocco lived up to that name!), he got down to the ball a full couple seconds before any of the other kids. He ran straight to it, stopped, pointed his hand at the ball, and with his pinky, pointer and thumb extended, started blasting it with his spiderwebs!!!

Yes that's right, my child literally thinks he's spiderman! LOL. I'm I a bad parent since I was totally encouraging him with my little superhero schpeal?

Needless to say, No webs came out. He looked at his hand confusedly and then tried again. Didn't work. Every other parent on the team was staring at me like "What in world is he doing?!" And what was I doing? Busting up! It was Hilarious!

Then a little blackhawk reached the ball, stole it, dribbled it down to their goal and scored.

We lost. Rocco rocked my world though!  THat kid is AWESOME!

Well we went home and practiced. And we told Rocco you're not allowed to use hands in soccer, and that includes Spiderman hands...

He started doing better at his next few games, but it was like ADHD would set in halfway through the game and he would start pretending to be Batman or watching the planes fly overhead (the soccerfields are right next to a mini airfield), and not even paying attention to the ball or trying at all.

So, once again being the genius Mom that I am; I told Rocco that if he could steal the ball and make a goal, I would make a bat symbol to put onto his uniform.

Rocco jumped all over that one! Or shall I say he kicked all over that one?

Either way, at his next game Rocco was trying the entire game to steal that ball and get it in the net! I've never seen such dedication from my little man! At the very end of the game he finally got his chance. He stole the ball from this poor tiny little guy, ran as fast as he could and made the winning goal!

Unfortunately that winning goal was in the wrong net, and for the wrong team...

Nice try Buddy!
Yes, I did make him a bat symbol for his uniform. 

Zeegan was Rocco's Biggest little fan! She would yell "Go Wocco!" even when he wasn't in the game playing...

Rocco's team lost every single game. We didn't mind a bit! It was so fun watching him learn something new and have some fun! and I loved screaming "Go Rocco!" and "Yeah Blue Cheetahs!" from the sidelines! (Yes, I am that loud Soccer Mom. And proud of it Baby!)

Look how cute he is in his HULK shoes and Batman uniform!!!