The $28 Goal

(Disclaimer: I somehow managed to go through the whole fall soccer season without getting a picture of Morgan. Sorry Morgan!!!)

October 4, 2012 is going down in history as one of my all-time favorite days. That's the day I had to pay Morgan $28 for making a goal in soccer! I'll give you the whole story below, but first...enjoy these cute pictures of Brynne and Melissa during soccer:

Okay, here's the story:

Morgan really enjoys soccer, but admittedly a great deal of her time on the field is spent swatting at flies and/or yelling things to try and throw off the other team. The times Morgan decided to play hard, she did well; but her norm is to hang back and wait for the ball to come to her.

Her last day of soccer was actually a double header with a one-hour break in between. When she was getting ready to go out and play, Lee said, "Hey Morgan. You know these are your last games so go crazy!!" I said, "Yeah! We'll even get you something if you score a goal!" I was thinking about an ice cream cone or $1, but Morgan replied with, "Will you give me 28 bucks?" Lee and I agreed, realizing that Morgan had never even shot any goals during the season.

The first game came and went. Morgan played well, but no goals. The second and final game of the season is a different story, though. The coach put Morgan in as goalie for the second half with the instructions that if she paid attention and did well, he'd give her some time at the end of the game to be center forward. She did well, so Morgan got to be center forward for the last five minutes of the game. With only a few minutes left to play, Morgan kicked the ball up and over the goalie's head to score a goal! (Morgan figured it was what the other team had coming because they had scored on her with a similar kick while she had been playing goalie a bit earlier.)

Trying to explain everyone's reactions is impossible, but basically Morgan started yelling, "I'm going to get 28 bucks!! I'm going to get 28 bucks!!" Lee and I both reacted with disbelief, looking to each other to find out if it had really happened. We were in absolute shock, like time stood still to wait for us all the process this. The coaches were also amazed and excited. As a cool bonus, the team Morgan was playing against was coached by the coach she had had for the previous three soccer seasons, so he was also there to witness and enjoy the moment. Most of the parents on our team got the excitement and realized it wasn't just another goal for our team. The parents on the other team, however, were probably busy thinking what awful parents we are - who offers their kid $28 for kicking a goal?!

We warned Morgan that going forward the reward for goals will be a lot smaller. I fell like that was a really small price to pay, though, for the confidence the whole thing gave Morgan! She was all over the ball after that and even had one other shot that didn't make it into the goal. I have high hopes for this new-found confidence when Spring soccer gets here! Although I'm sure there will still also be a fair amount of yelling at the other team 'cause let's face it...wouldn't you be thrown off by someone yelling "Kick it like your mother!"?