Shortly after this soccer season started, a bit of tragedy struck... We got a lot of snow over a few days and it ended up leading to the collapse of The Dome! I didn't notice anything amiss during Thomas' practice, but Matt said the ceiling was definitely sagging during Henry's practice. They ended up closing the Dome around noon as a precaution and were frantically trying to fix the dome all afternoon until the snow won around midnight.
Thankfully no one was hurt, so the biggest issue was the loss of a huge indoor practice facility in the dead of winter. They are estimating it will take about a year to get the Dome back up and functional. Luckily for us, the soccer club was able to get soccer time booked inside the other inflatable dome in town. (Is it now the biggest inflatable indoor space in Alaska until the other one is repaired??)
The Fox Hollow dome is quite a bit smaller and is mostly used as an indoor driving range. (There is obviously no golfing while the soccer practice is going on.) In my mind, the smaller footprint means it is less likely to collapse? Matt and I discussed where we would run in case of a collapse with the kids many times in the previous Dome, so it was pretty much always on our mind. (Except for me when it actually started sagging - ha!)
I was pretty excited about testing out the camera in the smaller dome because the lighting seemed to be a little better the first time we were in there. Of course, the time I bring the camera is the time that they schedule the Candy Canes in the back of the dome where it is much darker. The front part of the dome is white, but the back is dark blue - I think it's so the golfers can see their golf balls after they hit them?
Anyhow, you can see the field and location changes didn't faze the kiddos at all - they are just pumped to be playing some soccer! My favorite is the only (tiny!) girl on the team - she is so excited, she's not even touching the ground. :) Also, the little guy with the blue & black jersey is also a Candy Cane, there was a reshuffle of teams after they handed out the jerseys.
For the first part of each session, they do practice and drills - the favorite of which is Sharks & Minnows. Thomas got chosen to be a Shark first and he was pumped! Look how intensely he is staring down all those minnows.
The camera was clearly struggling a little bit with the dark blue background, so this shot was not in focus at all. But... he scored a goal and I had to include it anyhow! We are always encouraging him to keep after that ball because sometimes he tends to lag behind the group. But not today! He was on that ball and kicked it all the way down and into the goal.
I was so proud!! He was pretty proud of himself too! :)
The new dome doesn't really have much food to offer, so the first time we went out to get a snack. This time I planned ahead and packed us lunches. Thomas polished his off pretty quick (because he had clearly worked up an appetite) and asked if he could go watch the virtual golfers. There was already a tiny crowd, so I figured one more little watcher wouldn't hurt. The kids were all very cam and quiet while they were watching - good golfing spectators!
Finally it was Henry's practice time! He's got his full kit (outfit) on today, so he looks like an official soccer player. Kiddie soccer doesn't have quite the same set-up, so there are no teams names. I keep calling him a Blueberry anyhow.
The day Henry decided he had outgrown his snow boots, he also didn't seem to fit into his sneakers. (Growth spurt!) I bought him a new pair, but didn't think about him wearing them to soccer and the fact they *light* up*. He would be running and suddenly stop to stare at his feet.
Rookie move, momma!
I think I had forgotten how all of the place the kids are during kiddie soccer... While they are all having fun, there is a bit of a challenge in getting them to all do the same thing. But part of the point of kiddie soccer is teaching them to follow the coach's instructions. We'll get there - Thomas is certainly proof of that! ;)
This week I got smart enough to addd Henry's name to the soccer ball - his coach kept calling him Thomas because that was clearly the name written on every soccer ball we have. Now they have at least a 50/50 chance of using the right name. Ha!
And I realized that I never blogged about Thomas' soccer when we first started it, so I found a photo from the last day of his very first soccer club. How tiny & adorable is he?!?