Champions of the Blast Off Tournament!

Wow, so proud of Emma and her soccer team - what a fantastic weekend at the Federal Way Blast Off tournament! We played in three tournaments this summer, with a new team, guest players, and trying to just feel our way. The first one was on our home field where we went 1-2. The second tournament in Redmond right before we went to CA last month, we were 3-1 and made it to the quarter finals. This weekend, our girls played with determination and improved skills and finished 4-0 with the championship medal for their division!! We loved seeing the improvement - confidence - heart of these girls. Extra special was having Kennedy participate as a guest player, making the win sweeter for Emma having her best friend with her.

Some highlights (or lowlights): Kennedy scored a goal as a defender (she has a rocket kick!); Emma got new cleats after Friday's game and Coach commented on Saturday that she must've had an odometer in her shoes - because she covered more ground and faster than anyone on the field; Emma and another teammate were chosen to hand out the medals to their teammates - hanging them around each girl's neck just like the Olympics, before a crowd, calling out their names; and sadly, we lost a guest goalie player after Saturday's first game to a nasty injury. She had control of the ball on the ground in front of the goal and an opposing player kicked her in the face. It was not intentional, but no foul was called either - she sat and screamed as blood poured out - and ended up breaking her jaw on both sides of her mouth. Man, we have felt really bad for her the last 2 days. Of course, after she got home from the hospital, her first question was "did they win?" That's a great player :)