Nathan Wins Big

At this year's soccer presentation night all the kids were given trophies for being a part of the team. (we're in the day and age when everyone regardless of whether or not they even come to games and practices regularly has to get an award so we don't hurt anyone's feelings)

Nathan plays for the Whitehaven Amateurs where there are two teams for his age group - the B team which in reality is the A team and then Na's team, the A team which in reality is the B team. No one is fooled by the name switch. Anyway, Nathan primarily plays as the goalie though he would really love to be a striker or midfielder. His team never won a game this year and last year only won a couple. However, Nathan stays very busy as a player. He has stopped countless goals this year and although he obviously let balls in, he stopped far more than actually went in. He never blames his team for not defending or scoring - he just sticks to his position. At the end of each game the opponent's coach chooses a player from your team that they believe is the Man of the Match. Though we missed many games on Sunday mornings, Nathan still got more Man of the Match titles than anyone else so he received the Player of the Year Trophy for his team!

The night is a real Cumbrian experience. There are trivia games, raffles and lots of alcohol. Julie got to have pies and peas (ground beef pot pie kind of thing with flourescent green peas) We were team America for the trivia games - we lost but largely due to the fact that we couldn't always understand what they were saying. Julieanne and AC kept themselves entertained and Julie too with silly faces and giggles.

The parents of the team also choose a Parent's Player of the Year which Nathan won. A real honor. Next year the two teams will combine to make one new team and they will play full pitch. Nathan plays like fireworks - lots of speed and sparks but then fizzles out so he will need to work on some endurance.

Well done Nathan!!!!!!!!!