Football Begins

Kaelan began his first official, organized athletics program, little league football through the YMCA.  His first practice was last Saturday and although it was extremely windy and very chilly, you'll see he had a great time.

Playing around with one of his Cowboy teammates before practice begins. He started the morning with just this bright green shirt.

Their first drill was to practice grabbing someone's flag.  The runner was the coach's older son who took it easy on the newbies.  :)

2nd drill - speed drill to run around the cones (defenders).  We quickly realized that speed is not one of Kaelan's strengths but we know he will have others...eventually.  ;)

Listening to directions.  Organized games and drills is obviously new to him (and many of the others) because it was difficult for him to grasp exactly what he was supposed to be doing.  However, he smiled the whole time.  By this time, he saw some other boys wearing football shirts and jerseys so he wanted his. Luckily Daddy had his in the truck.

Just a plain old running drill, back and forth

This was the best part of the whole morning.  This drill was like a scrimmage at the most basic level.  There were a couple kids on offense (basically just 1 runner and a couple waiting their turn) and the rest were defenders.  When the whistle blew, the runner would try to get to the coach on the other end of the field without losing their flags.  This was Kaelan's turn.  I had to include all the pictures because it shows the whole play and how well he did.  Oh, and by this time, he was ready for his fleece...brrrrrr!!!!!

He reached the other coach just a couple steps further...TOUCHDOWN!!!

Getting coached at safety.  As the last line of defense in soccer, his mom would love him to play this position some day.

This little happy guy just ran around an adjacent field and threw footballs around the whole time. He loved the crazy wind, Mom did not!  :)

This drill was all about learning out-of-bounds.  The runner had to stay within the cones.  At the beginning of the practice, the coach explained that this season would be VERY basic but if the kids could learn out-of-bounds, it would be a success.  Clearly K has a ways to go, but it's only the first practice.  :)

"Cheese!!!"