soccer

me: here's your water, bud.
asher: thanks, mom.
me: hey, when you're kicking the ball with a partner you need to try to make sure you kick it to her.
asher: mom, i was.
me: ok, well you could try to help her by not kicking it over her head or really far away from her.
asher: yeah...
me: you know how me and daddy talk about how in this family we're for each other and not against. how we do things to help each other and not hurt. it's kind of the same thing when you're part of a team. you want to do your best to help your team. you're for your team mates, not against them.
asher: yeah, but she wasn't keeping her eye on the ball. she wasn't getting it because she wasn't doing that.
me: ok, well next time you have a partner try to help her by kicking as close to her feet as you can.

asher is playing soccer for the YMCA this season. his team got their jerseys tonight and voted on a team name. asher tried to convince his team mates that the name should be The Blue Chickens and he stuck by his recommendation by being the only team member to vote for it. in the end, The Blue Dragons won. dragons, i think, are a little more intimidating than chickens. i hope he learns a little bit about being a team player this season. about being for his team.

on the way home, as we talked about the team name and jerseys, he informed us:

asher: i hope next year we can get red shirts. then we can be the red roosters.
me: yeah, that would be a good name. maybe next year.