Good day 
One thing I have always been worried about which I wrote about not too long ago was the social isolation of home schooling and the group quickly helped me out with mentioning ways to have this as a non issue. I was worried about learning at home without other pupils and missing out on social interaction.
Well I'm happy to report that with the reduction of lock down measures there is actually alot out there that can help with social engagement. If you've been following along for some time you'd be across lil miss being right across soccer as we live close by.
We missed out last year due to lock down and she was only 3, but now that she is 4 she is eligible to join the little league and after a quick registration and meeting she was accepted in the team! As a dad I am totally pumped and I get too see her put her heart and soul into a sport that she loves. It has been quite upsetting to attend often, have lil miss ask about playing but being unable to provide her with the ability to do so.
She made heaps of new friends and was quite popular on the field, we'd been practising for quite some time and playing together so when she hit the field for her first training session she was all over what you can and can't do.
But lil miss is extremely competitive and likes to "win" I'm getting to old and I now understand why our parents used to let us win. It is gruelling, lil miss doesn't give up until she wins. Even if we are wrestling and the game gets rough, if she gets hurt she goes harder.
There were a few kids she couldn't out run on the field last weekend and she asked me how to get faster and not get puffed out. We spoke about training and exercising and how our bodies get stronger. She referenced it to my own gym sessions, then deflated my ego when she asked why I trained if I don't play sport. Because daddy used to, daddy used to run in races. Did you win any? ouch kiddo, hurting my feelings 🤣
So we were out to build our speed and endurance! Lil miss didn't hesitate as she took off at full pelt down the foot path. We we're at it for a few minutes when she asked if she was faster yet. I explained how our bodies heal and grow while we sleep and the importance of maintaining healthy diets. Hoping our discussion helps with getting her into bed earlier and off the junk food 🤣.
She did like to taunt me, she is faster than me which makes me feel like I'm getting old. Although I do feel it is harder to run the older and bigger you are, you're centre of gravity feels a little off. As someone who has been running for a few decades it does feel different running now than it did when I was smaller. You could run harder and faster and didn't feel like you had to balance as much or that you were going to topple over. Also stopping was easier and didn't send you flying when you came to a sudden stop. My weight isn't that much different now to previously.
20 minutes in and she was out, I was still full of beans and tried to spur her to keep going. She was tired and said she had no more energy to keep going. At that point we discussed stamina and endurance to keep going and that when she's playing sport she needs to learn the moments she needs to give it her 100% and the times where she needs to hold off and conserve energy. That and dads a little fatter these days so has a lot more energy storage going on around his hips 🤣🤣🤣 she said that was cheating! Ah to be young again and just burn off everything you eat without needing to do anything.
We're starting to put together a training program for her, I don't want to go too hard as lil miss is only 4 so I don't want to give her any issues around self confidence or self esteem. But I think it is healthy to set some goals and work towards them especially if soccer is something she is passionate about.
But I'm not sure how much of this is about soccer or just about having fun with friends and her competitive side coming out to play. Time will tell but this is all awesome fun times!
I'm glad I was able to pick up the social interaction through sport as it was something I was worried about with home schooling.
