Harper made the team!

Harper has loved soccer for a long time now.  She started playing when she was 4 and hasn't stopped since.  From early on we could tell this might just be her "thing."  She loves to run, she's pretty fast, she is aggressive (in a good way), not afraid to go after the ball, and is just full of spunk and excitement when it comes to soccer.  

This year she continued to play in the rec league with the idea of really improving and practicing so she could try out for the Junior Academy team.  This team just ups the game a little bit.  With a professional coach, more practices, and more concentrated training, the girls in this program gain experience and skills that are unmatched to the regular rec league.  She has had some wonderful coaches, but we knew she could benefit from being on this more competitive team and she was excited to tryout.  

The tryouts were this week and the kids were asked to attend 2 of the 4 days.  Harper went on Wednesday (after a huge storm that delayed the tryouts a bit) and again on Friday (one of the hottest days we have had so far).  She played her little heart out.  The tryouts involved some skills games and then a lot of scrimmaging, which she loves.  

She must have made a good impression after the first night because the coach told Robby that he was impressed with Harper and that he could tell she had a real passion and enthusiasm for the game.  

I took her on Friday and couldn't have been more impressed with the coach. He made the tryouts fun and he was so engaging.  It was a very hot day and they were all red-faced.  

That didn't slow her down though and after the tryouts he took them to get a "hose head."  Basically sticking their heads under the hose to cool off and she LOVED that.  

After the tryouts he met with each of the parents individually to tell them the status of the girls' tryouts and he told me that he would love to have Harper on the team!  He said her ball control got better from Wednesday to Friday and that she really tried to take direction and that was promising because it showed she wanted to learn and get better.  

She was so excited about the great news of making the team and so were we!  I'm so proud of her and can't wait to see what this next year will hold for her.