March 2010 - We Are The Champions!!!

Ryann's soccer team just became the Champions last night in a nail bitting finish to an awesome undefeated season. Ryann has had quite an exciting experience with her first team sport. She decided last October that she wanted to play soccer with her friend. So we signed them up together with her friends dad as the coach. We thought that would give Ryann the confidence to actually play. When it came time for the season we discovered that her and her friend were not placed on the same team and that she would be on a team with complete stangers. I didn't think she would do it. To her credit and our delight she wanted to play bad enough that she conquered what would be the first of many fears in soccer. The following are exerps from letters Mike and I wrote to Jordan about her tournament.

"On Monday night Ryann's soccer team eliminated another team from the championship so it was only her team and one other team left. Ryann's team lost to them one time in the championship and the other team didn't have any loses so Ryann's team would have to beat them twice as it was a double elimination tournament. So Wednesday they came out with all guns loaded and blew them away 6-0. (ryann's team) So they only needed to beat them one more time. this team has a great goalie and 15 players. We had a horrilble goalie and 11 players when they all showed up....which they almost never did. So friday night was the final showdown. We only had 9 players show up so they would play the whole game with no subs. We had HORRIBLE calls against us from the refs(even dad said so) Ryann got ran over by a big girl when she was trying to block her and got smashed into the ground. I think she may have even blacked out for a second. She had to go out for about 10 minutes so they played with 8 players. Two other girls got hurt but stayed in the game. Ryann went back in and finished the game. The won 1-0!!!! Holy Cow. What a game. They played hard and won against very bad odds. It was inspiring and I was so proud of Ryann for going back in. She didn't want to but she did. that was her first real injury...ever and she handled it great. She is alittle stiff today but doing great."

"Ryann's soccer week was amazing. (Read Mom's letter first if you haven't already). When she got hurt, she was the last defender between this girl and the goalie (about 15 yards away) and I think she knew she had to get the ball out of there. She got herself in good position, but this big girl from the other team already had a big head of steam. Ryann kicked the ball and then paid the price as the girl ran straight into her. Ryann fell straight back without any time to break her fall, and hit her head on the ground - and then the other girl fell right on top of her and Ryann hit her head again. The game was stopped and she went to the bench. I went and talked to her at the bench and she was pretty frazzled and dazed, and a little scared. The team didn't have any subs and so was out working hard trying to protect a 1-0 lead with only eight players - it would be a great help just to have another body out there. She did not really want to go back in, but I knew she would feel bad later if she didn't go in and something happened. So we talked and she decided to go back in the game for the last 8 minutes or so. She showed a lot of courage, especially when the same girl came barreling down the field and she had to stop her again - she kicked the ball away again, and this time avoided being trampled. It was an intense game, but she and her teammates showed a lot of guts and deserved to win. I think she will not soon forget some of the lessons she has learned playing soccer - I know I won't."

So she recieved her first two trophies. One for #1 in the division for the season and one for #1 in the Tournament. She loved playing soccer and can't wait until the summer when she can do some soccer camps.