throwback thursday: alyssa and sports

The spring before Alyssa turned five was full of important firsts for both of us. It was the first time she played any type of sport and she chose to play baseball. The team she ended up on was all boys except for Alyssa and one other little girl. Coincidentally, there were several little kids on the team that belonged to people I had gone to high school with but not seen in ages. Long story short, it's thanks to Alyssa joining that baseball team that we now have some of our best friends in our lives. If I remember correctly, they didn't actually keep score at that age. I'm thinking every player got to bat each inning. The season went by fairly fast and of course each kid got a cool little trophy at the end with their name on it.

After baseball, Alyssa decided she wanted to try her hand at cheerleading. She joined the local rec squad where she went to school and also signed up to take a tumbling class at a local sports club. The tumbling class was a favorite of hers; she still loves to run around and do cartwheels and whatnot. She ended up cheering for the same squad for two years, but decided last year that she was not enjoying it as much as she did in the beginning. I think she needed something where she could run around a bit more. Standing in one place for an hour is definitely not one of her better skills.

So this year Alyssa has decided to give soccer a try. Her dad played soccer a lot when he was younger and will hopefully be able to help coach her team. Her first practice is next week and she is really looking forward to it. (I could tell she was excited by the way she said "okay" and ran off to throw rocks in the water yesterday when I mentioned her first practice is right after we get home from vacation.)