Soccer

Saturday, I got to see my 7-year old nephew in a soccer game.

He's on a team with a lot of other 7-year-olds. Most of them haven't played the game before, either. As you can imagine, the kid's skills aren't exactly polished just yet.

The most common thing they did that was amusing was to aim for the goal and kick as hard as they could, regardless of how many other players were between them and the goal. The sound of the ball bouncing off of a player ("thunk") was common.

Also common were the misses. Somebody would pull back a leg, then swing as hard as they could, and *whiff*! Sometimes, this was followed by a "thud" as the kid landed on his hinder.

At one point, a kid on my nephew's team ("Us") fell down and wound up in a seated position on the field. He was near mid-field, but was facing vaguely in the direction of the opponent's goal. The ball was directly behind him.

One of the opponents ("Them") pulled back a leg. You could see it coming from a mile away. Them swung his leg, connected with the ball, and "thunk" it bounced off of Us's hinder.

The ball rolled back over to Them. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Them pulled back his leg again. Once again, we had a kick, and an immediate "thunk". Right in Us's hinder.

My dad laughed and said it should have been a foul. I think it was a very *personal* foul, myself.

In the end, my nephew's team lost. They had a lot of fun, though. So did I.