After 4 years of playing recreational soccer & 2 years of playing academy soccer, Sadie officially signed as a select player to play competitive ball at a club level on July 1!
She has been with her club team & her coach for the past 2 years, but they officially moved from academy to select when they turn 10. She is still the youngest on her team so she won't turn 10 until December, but it goes off of the year you were born, so her team is a 2011:
They had open try outs the entire months of May & June so it was a stressful time with a few girls on her team leaving & lots of new girls trying out. Her coach made it clear that you were not guaranteed a spot so they had to work hard to earn it back. Thank goodness most of the girls came back & we had a few new girls join so we finally got together last week to celebrate their signing day:
They each took turns signing their contract with Coach T:
By the way, she deserves some recognition as well because she was just named the 2020 - 2021 competitive coach of the year out of all of North Texas Soccer! We are so proud of her & so fortunate our girls play for her! After the girls signed, we celebrated all evening with dinner & a pool party:
Not only do the girls all get a long, but most of the parents do also, especially the moms!
Unfortunately, along with the celebrating, came a lot of hard work. Coach T put all of the girls through 2 a days for a whole week to get them ready for their club season. They had a morning practice every day from 8:00 - 9:30 and then an afternoon or evening practice later that day, either from 1:00 - 2:30, 3:00 - 4:30 or 5:00 - 6:30. Basically she was trying to break them down in the hot July heat! I think she also wanted to get them ready for all of their summer qualifying tournaments they have coming up:
The first morning they had a fitness test that they ran around 3 miles in smaller increments. They ran at the track & she had them timed for 50 yard sprints, 400, 800 & mile runs. I will humbly brag that out of 13 girls, she came in 2nd in every race. That girl is a beast & never gives up! And it does not matter her tiny size, she is fast! I'm just glad she didn't vomit because apparently that happened to a few girls.......
They always did fitness & conditioning in the morning then soccer in the afternoon. One morning she surprised them & they had a pool workout:
They thought they were getting out easy but they should have known better than that! She had them tread water for long periods of time & then they would get out & do push ups, sit ups, planking & wall sits with their soccer ball. Apparently it was just as hard:
The last morning it was raining so she had them run 2 miles throughout the walking trails as a warm up. I thought it was hilarious that Coach T wore roller blades & raced by them while they ran:
I'll tell you what, these girls are tough because it was a hard week - physically & emotionally. I think it is the first time Sadie really experienced pure muscle soreness & weakness. But it also bonded them - I mean they spent a lot of time together & had to do everything as a team:
We even snuck in a few low key play dates in between practices. They weren't supposed to play outside, swim or do much to exert energy, but we let them play games, hang out & watch movies together:
I know some people probably think we are crazy. Not only is it a big financial expense when you go select, but it's also a big commitment & very time consuming. I have a feeling that most of what we will do for her will revolve around soccer, but honestly, she loves it more than anything in the world & she has more than proved to us that she deserves to be there. And you know what else? It keeps her healthy, motivated, disciplined, focused & out of trouble. What more can we ask for?! As long as her love for soccer continues, we will support her & we couldn't be more proud of her:
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