This weekend, my youngest daughter had her first soccer game of the year...and of her life. Although she is only 6 years old and in kindergarten, I was looking forward to the game for three reasons:
- This was my daughter, for goodness sake, don't you think I'm going to support her?
- I shelled out a lot of money for the proper practice shorts, shoes, shin guards, duffel bags, pastel colored soccer balls, etc. and I wanted to see how my investment was paying off.
- I couldn't image that a soccer "game" consisting of kindergarteners and first-graders wouldn't be just a gold mine of photo opportunities!
My wife, who had attended all the practices, tried to manage my expectations. According to her, I shouldn't be too surprised if some of the players just wandered off the field and needed some help finding their way back. Armed with this knowledge, I thought my best action photo opportunities might be during the pre-game warmup. I was not dissappointed, either, as I got a shot of my little angel that proves without a doubt that cameras can lie. She looks like she is totally consumed with scoring a 
goal...the photo shows her hair flying, she's kicking, and the ball is headed in the right direction. She could be on the cover of Junior Sports Illustrated magazine. The truth is that she was basically trying to keep up with the ball she lost control of way back at the starting line..but hey, it's a great photo.
Once the game started, I was amazed at what the first graders could do. This was actually real soccer we were looking at! They were even trying to score and stuff. Our team even scored several goals early on in the game. Wow! I knew things were going to be good when my daughter was put in the game. Soon, she was subbed in for one of the defensive positions. As the her team got the ball down in scoring position, the coach was yelling instructions to my daughter on where she should stand..."Right there on that white line!" Amazingly, she listened! Things were looking good. In short order, the opposing team got the ball coming back toward my daughter. I was looking forward to seeing her go in there and take some aggression out. Instead, for once in her short life, she listened precisely to what the coach told her to do. She stood, like a statue, right there on that white line as the game swept past her.
As the game progressed, she did start running after the players who had the ball. Even though she completely ignored the finer points of what position she was playing, that was still better overall. She even kicked at the ball a few times. Unfortunately, as the game went on, she became more interested in her fingernails than what was going on in the field and she spent most of the last quarter in the bathroom. She was surprised to find out that her team had won 8-0, as she had no idea anyone really scored or anything.
Still, for a first time out, not too bad for a decidely non-athletic family. I think there is a great photo opportunity here, but the jury is still out on "return on investment." She did look cute her oversized uniform and soccer gear, though.
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