Pro Athletes

Yesterday was my first day of practice with the team. I'm still really impressed with how they listen, respect, and follow what you say (i must be a scary coach :). Practice could be longer. There just isn't enough time in an hour to review, teach basics, new drills, and scrimmage. They seemed to be having a good time though, enjoying practice, yet trying to understand and learn formations.
At the end of practice Mary Jo and I lead them in "follow the leader." The kids all lined up behind us and we went jogging, skipping, shuffling, and dodging. I heard all the kids huffing a little so I suddenly stopped the line to do the last part - froggers. Mary Jo and I began doing them, I glanced behind as I had been before to check on everyone... and to my sight, it was only Mary Jo and I doing froggers, as all the kids just stood and watched us. We felt pretty special :)
After practice one of the girls, Haley, stopped us and asked if we could stay after practice and work with her a bit. She said "I wanna be a pro players when I grow up, but I know I'm not that great right now..." I showed her a few pointers and foot drills to work on until our next practice. It's great to know we have so many players on the team who really want to learn how to play and thrive - even though they are only ten!

I'm pumped about the upcoming practices and games - however I did realize while jogging with the kids that it's still SUPPER hard to breath. So today is my first day to start a routine and run my sprints... hopefully I won't die :)

Love.