Cat's High School Soccer Career Begins

A few highlights of the season at the midpoint:

Cat started training with the high school soccer teams over the summer, with tryouts being held in July.

She didn't find out until shortly before the first game the second week of August that she'd be playing Varsity - the only freshman with a permanent Varsity spot.

She didn't start the first game.  But she scored more goals than anyone else.

By the fifth game, she had started a few games, and with 10 goals (5 in that game alone) she'd scored more than anyone else on the team.  And broken the school's freshman scoring record.  Her coach warned her that she now had "a target on her back."

By the seventh game, Cat was the highest scorer in the 3A league.  In the state.  She'd also had several assists, though I don't know exactly how many.

Cat is truly loving playing on this team.  She loves her school.  She loves her teammates.  And she really loves her coach.  She's tired every day after soccer and begrudges the toll the time commitment takes on her homework and piano practice, but even her complaining isn't really complaining.  She's eating it up.

Cat's school is a charter school but their opponents are determined by the sizes of the schools, not whether they are charter schools or not.  Most of the teams Cat plays against are from traditional schools, but they're also pretty spread out.  Almost all of the schools are over an hour away, with one or two being more than two hours away.  This means leaving school early, spending lots of time on the bus, and trying to get homework done when she can.  It helps that she has a teammate in her math class!

The team has lost a few games but overall has a winning record.  They'll have more home games in the second half of the season so that will probably work in their favor.  It'll be fun to see how far they go!

I love that Cat is continuing to enjoy playing so much after the emotional decision to quit her club team.  Soccer really is her thing.