I played a lot of sports growing up.

Unfortunately, soccer was not one of them.

Neither Russ nor I know squat-diddly about soccer, and it shows. Jack and Tucker both played on a 4-year old team, and it was a frustrating experience on multiple levels. You have to realize the 4-year olds are much more excited by an airplane flying overhead or a patch of clover that needs to be picked than playing a game, and you head to the field expecting that. And you won’t be disappointed because the 4-year olds are too busy enjoying the world to notice the ball go rolling by, and when you don’t know a single thing about soccer, you don’t feel obligated to try to refocus the kids or find a teachable moment. If you’re not an uber-competitive maniac who has played team sports since she was 5, then it’s all good.

Otherwise, there’s going to be a lot of palm slapping of the forehead accompanied by deep sighing as you try to come to grips with the fact that your son just stopped running for no reason or scored a goal for the wrong team or is lying down on the field so he can watch the ants better.

Amazingly, this near universal lack of focus as a 4-year old on a sports team has skipped Theo.

Dude can play some soccer.

He’s on the T-Rex, possibly the funniest name for a team since the Lugnuts (Tucker’s current baseball team). Theo’s best pal is also a member of the mighty T-Rex (T-Rexes?). Life is good as a T-Rex.

The warm-up should be filmed and placed on Youtube, and you should bookmark it for those days when you need a good laugh.

T-Rex warm ups include a round of 10 jumping jacks and–I kid you not–practicing falling on the ground without crying. The coach is brilliant.

Proof that Theo has an inkling of what to do. This kind of aggressiveness has never been displayed by a Herakovich (at least from the 5 of us) on a soccer field before. I can guarantee you that. Though he be but little, he is fierce. 🙂

Water break at half-time. You can really work up a sweat running in a pack like that.

Theo gets some tips from his best pal’s big brother, whom he adores. 

We were so close to not jumping back on the crazy train that is 4-year old soccer, but man, are we glad we did. Theo has been waiting his whole life to get off the sidelines and onto the field. He couldn’t be prouder, and we couldn’t be prouder of him.

Go T-Rex!