Indoor Soccer

Michael had so much fun this fall playing soccer that we decided to sign him up for indoor soccer this winter. We figured that he would be able to get some exercise and burn off some energy since we can't get outside very much due to the colder weather. He does go outside most days at school but that's only for about 30 minutes, which is better than nothing.

Indoor soccer is run a bit differently than outdoor soccer. There are no set teams. Everyone practices together in a local elementary school gym. The entire month of December was devoted to learning skills and practicing them with the coaches and other players. The kids who play are ages 4, 5 and 6. We had a break for the past 2 weeks and it started up again this past week.

The uniforms came in and the jerseys are reversible. They started playing games this week too. Each night the coaches divide the kids up into 2 teams. One team turns their jerseys inside out and the other does not. The game is played in the entire gym and there are no boundaries. It's a lot of running up and down the gym, chasing the ball. Every player gets a turn to be the goalie and play the different positions. The game usually lasts about 45 minutes or so. Michael started getting tired about 30 minutes into the game and was ready to rest. He slept really well on Thursday night.

It's much more laidback than outdoor soccer is and the games almost seem more like practice games. One thing that's nice about it is the ability to play all of the positions and learning to play with different teammates. Michael keeps asking about when we are going to play outside again and why he isn't wearing his red shirt (jersey from the outdoor soccer). Maybe this fall......