The Mighty Ladybugs

Elizabeth is currently in the midst of her first experience playing a team sport - community soccer. Her team is called the Ladybugs, and it is made up of kindergarten girls from four nearby elementary schools. They are all sweet, adorable little things and they get along very well. They are also all clearly pumped to play, and they have great team spirit. One of her team mates, upon finding out that their team was called the Ladybugs, immediately asked "What do Ladybugs destroy??"

Well, as it turns out... nothing.

These sweet, earnest little girls have played four games. In four games, they have scored one goal. In four games, they have had about thirty goals scored against them. It is truly heartbreaking to watch.

For the parents, that is. The girls mostly want to know what they're having for snack at the end of the game. And no matter what is going on on the field, their team mates are usually sitting on the sidelines chanting "LAY-DEE-BUGS! LAY-DEE-BUGS!" - seemingly without knowing that they are being utterly pummeled by the other team of adorable five year old girls.

Elizabeth, unsurprisingly, is not a very aggressive soccer player. She gets distracted a lot, and she doesn't run very fast. But she's always happy to get out on the field, and she usually remembers which direction she is supposed to kick the ball in - and at five, I think that's good enough for now. Most of her team is very similar. Her coach has a good attitude and so do the rest of the parents - the parents with our team, that is.

Gotta say though, I'm a little appalled by the behavior of some of the other parents on other teams. Too loud, too negative. Not in the spirit of everyone playing and having a good time. It's too bad, really. And it kind of turns your stomach at the end of a game to see kids jumping up and down screaming "WE WON! WE WON!" when your tired group of little girls would have been happy with even just one goal.

...You'll just have to forget I said that last part when the Ladybugs score another goal though, because I'm pretty sure all the parents will be jumping up and down celebrating. I bet if it was allowed, we'd bust out some champagne, too!