And the inner tiger is unleashed...

I've always had a sneaking suspicion that Jacob has the potential to be the star athlete in the family; however, because of his lack of confidence, I've never observed an opportunity to prove this theory.

I've already mentioned that we gave the boy a forceful gentle nudge out of his comfort zone and on to the soccer field. He's had a chance to wear in his cleats with a few practices and a game. Again, though, his shyness and lack of confidence have really caused him to hold back. In his last game there were many moments where he gave the ball a tentative kick and then stood back to allow his opponents take over.

Today was different, though. I wish I could say It was the last minute of the 4th quarter...but the kids play six six-minute periods, and by the 4th minute of the second period I've already lost track. So I'll just say that at some point in the game, Jacob received the ball from his teammate, took a shot...and SCORED! The boost of confidence he got from his goal unleashed the tiger inside my little boy, and after that, he was a maniac. It didn't matter if Coach put him in a forward or fullback position, he was all over the field. He was dribbling through and around his opponents and attacking the ball with a vengeance. It was so much fun to watch.


Of course, there is some tiger in Michael as well, and he had a few great shots on goal.

He has a natural instinct for soccer which he doesn't possess on the basketball court. He's aggressive and pretty skilled with his feet. Although he's better as a forward he prefers being on defense--preferably in the goal. Which we find interesting because he clearly has too much energy to just be sitting in the goal; we came to this conclusion as we watched him climb the goal posts and perform his own little calisthenic routine as he waited for the ball to come his way. I will admit he is quite an effective goalie and stopped some good would-be goals.

So with my two little tigers out on the field, I guess you could say I'm a pretty proud mama cat. It's so much fun to see them take over the field. And at the risk of badly mixing my metaphors, I couldn't be more pleased to see my littlest tiger cub pounce right out of his shell.

From the sidelines: