Soccer Camp

Last week Ryan had a soccer camp in Nana's neighborhood.  It was five days, 9am-10:30, and was supposed to be for three and four year olds, but I'm almost certain Ryan was the youngest and there were quite a few kids older than four.  The camp was British soccer with British coaches that travel the states teaching kids.  Ryan's coach, Coach Jonny, is from Liverpool England and was young enough that I am guessing he's a college kid on summer break, or is that holiday?.  Pretty cool way to spend the summer :)  Unlike the other activities he's done (ie Sportykes), this one was real soccer, not the kid-friendly version.  Ryan had a few moments here and there when I think he got real overwhelmed and between the complex instructions & the awesome British accents, I'm not sure he always understood.  But overall, I think it was a neat experience and I have no regrets.  And he went out on a high note- Friday was by far his best day and he did so good. 

Ryan's favorite drill was King Crab.  Coach Jonny would sit on the floor [British for ground :)] and pinch his legs together trying to get the soccer balls.  I'm not sure why, but Ryan loved the game and never tried to get away, in fact most of the time he'd just sit right down next to Coach Jonny and be a crab from the beginning.  Ryan called it "pinching people" or "where's my lunch" since King Crab would holler munch, munch, where's my lunch as the sign to run across the field.  Ryan also enjoyed playing with the cones.  By the last day, Coach Jonny had him figured out- when he'd count the other kids' treasures (soccer balls), he'd count Ryan's cones :)  Silly kid just couldn't leave them alone! 

Hopefully Ryan had some fun and got a few good memories out of it!  I think we'll wait a little while though before we do something quite this advanced again :)