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Reena's sons

Lessons from a Six and Three Year Old

I’m constantly amazed by the level of energy and determination children can have. My husband and I have two little boys, ages six and three and they have more energy and determination than both they and we know what to do with sometimes! However, they’re blessed to be extremely athletic kids and really inspire me when it comes to their sports and fitness abilities.

Our older, six year old son, tried out for the MVLA private soccer club this past week. He’s been playing soccer since he was two years old, starting in Kidz Love Soccer for three years and then moving up to the AYSO league the last two years, where he was coached by my husband. Therefore, we thought the time was right for him to try out for a more competitive club. That said, we were nervous, given he’s one of the younger kids in his first grade class and is a little bit on the shorter side…he unfortunately has his petite, 4’11” mom, to thank for that! However, he practiced hard with us in our backyard during the weeks and days leading up to the tryouts and was extremely focused when it came to the actual two days of tryouts. He concentrated on the drills he was being asked to do and really got out there and gave it his all when he was scrimmaging against the other kids. He hustled on the field, dribbled beautifully towards the goal, passed the ball to his teammates, sprinted like no other, played both strong defense and offense and even scored a few goals! At one point during the tryout, I said what I always say to him and my younger son to motivate both of them in school and sports, which is, “Eye of the Tiger!” He smiled, nodded and ran off to do his thing and I just knew he had that fire in his belly to succeed. 🙂 I often play this famous, old song by Survivor from the Rocky movies and the kids just love it and it really pumps them up. Anyway, all that said, he made the team for the Fall 2014 season and most importantly, had FUN! We’re so incredibly proud of him.

Our younger, three year old son, has his own fire in his belly and is quickly following in his big brother’s footsteps on the sports front. He also plays soccer and started Kidz Love Soccer last year when he was two years old. He has always had such a natural confidence in himself, which is so exciting to see. Even as a baby and toddler, we could see his strong determination towards accomplishing a goal, especially a sports-related one, using his gross motor skills. His teachers at school have always told us he has this strong sense of internal validation, where he can celebrate his own successes and doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone else. If he accomplishes something, he’ll say to himself, “Yeah!” I just love and adore that about him and hope that inner confidence stays with him throughout his life. He was very intensely watching the MVLA tryouts last week and was studying his brother and the other “big kids.” He was working hard on his own dribbling skills, trying to do some tricks with the ball by kicking it up with his knee and foot and basically acting like a preschooler going straight into first grade! 😉 He’s very eager to play on the team someday himself and I just know he’ll also be successful when the time comes.

These two little boys give me so much strength and energy and really push me to be my best. If I’m ever feeling too tired to workout, they’ll motivate me and say, “Mommy, you can do it. Let’s go out in the garage and we can play music while you workout and we play sports!” How do you say no to that? They’ll even do push ups, squats, burpees and jumping jacks with me, which always makes my workouts more fun. Also, my older son had to write down his goals on one of his recent homework assignments and when I asked him what his goals were, he said without hesitation, “My goals are to be strong and healthy.” Wow…I couldn’t have said it any better myself!

So the next time you’re looking for some motivation when it comes to fitness, sports, competing in your next race or event, look to the children in your life…your own children, your friends’ children, your nieces or nephews, etc. They might inspire and motivate you more than you could have ever imagined!

With that, featured above is a picture of our boys, tuckered out in their soccer jerseys, after each playing his heart out at soccer earlier that morning!

That’s it for tonight all. Have a wonderful week and I’ll be back with another blog post soon!

Works Cited: Survivor. “Eye of the Tiger.” By Frankie Sullivan. Rocky III Original Soundtrack. EMI, Scotti Brothers. 1982.

MLVA: https://www.mvlasc.org/

Kidz Love Soccer: https://www.kidzlovesoccer.com/

AYSO: https://www.ayso.org/

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