Soccer Practice

I signed Wyatt up for a 4-week sports class at the local recreation district and he had his first class earlier this week. The class was made up of 5 kids ages 3-5 and this week's lesson was soccer.

All things looked promising in the beginning as Wyatt enthusiastically shared with the group his name and age but when the teachers asked the kids to stand and stretch he just stood there like a statue. He refused to reach high, touch his toes or jump. I thought This is not going well.

Then the teachers brought out the soccer balls and demonstrated how to dribble the ball and stop it by putting one foot on top.

They asked the kids to do this to music and when the music ended that that was their cue to stop their ball with their foot. When the exercise began the other children gently tapped their soccer balls but not my Wyatt. Nope. He kicked the ball as hard as he could across the room. When the music stopped the other children tried to gain control of their ball and stop but not my Wyatt. Nope. He kicked the ball back across the room. And when the music began again and the other children attempted to dribble again Wyatt completely abandoned the class and made his way over to a soccer goal on the other side of the room and began to score goals.

When that game was over Wyatt didn't want to sit with all of the other children on the blue mat but rather sat to the side of the room by himself. Still not going well...



I intervened a couple of times when Wyatt was way off task to remind him to listen to his teachers and sit on the mat when directed and things slowly got better. By the end of the 40-minute class he was back on the mat with the other children and he mastered the obstacle course.



Overall he had a great time and it will be interesting to see how he does at next week's class when he has a better idea of what is expected of him.