Soccer

For us the sport that has just started this season is soccer.
Ben played last year but Alex declined to play, that was until  about 3-4 weeks into the season when he decided he wanted to play! However he was too late to join a team, so had to settle with just practicing each week with Ben's team.

This year is a different story.
Here is our little soccer wanna be....

Unfortunately we have a small predicament with him playing this year.
Alex is about to turn 7, therefore he belongs in 7th grade soccer.
However this year at school they didn't have many 6-7yr old kids come forward for soccer but they did have a nice amount of 5-6yr old kids who should be 6th grade.
So they decided that the 2 who should be 7th grade would remain at this level but everyone else would join them. So now we have a team of lovely beginners and Alex!
Even though I cheer him on every week, it is difficult not too, it can also get embarrassing as he is too good. Well not that he is too good just that compared to the rest of the team he looks like a saint at this sport. He has ball skills and control, he has skills that the rest of the team can't even work out.
This has come from the fact he has been practicing with his big brothers team who are 2 grades higher for the last year and he has taken it all in.

So our predicament is:

1. Do we leave him in this team, which is the right age and grade for him, even though he way outshines all his team mates etc
2. Do we move him to the next grade where he will play with kids a year older but on a better par of skill to him?

If he had more kids his age to play in a team with then I know this wouldn't be a problem as they would all have the attention span required, however at present Alex comes off the field exhausted as he has generally run the entire length more times than we can count just so the team actually stays with the ball.

If he moves to the 8th grade team he will be small compared to some of those players but at least he will enjoy the game more as he will have people to pass to, people who will back him when he has the ball and people who will be there at the same level as him.

We should find out after the weekend if our request has been accepted by the school.

Hopefully the numbers in other teams are sufficient for this move to happen but at least it is only week 4 in the season so should be a simple move and easy for him to settle in a new team quickly.

I will keep you posted.