Her coach told the kids there were only three rules in soccer:1) No hands!
2) No stinky toes. Kick with the inside of your foot.
3) Have fun!
Lauren was the only girl out of the 6 kids there. I'm proud to say that she held her own. One little boy must have thought they were playing football as he tackled Lauren three times. Finally, after the third knockdown she got up and yelled at him, "STOP KNOCKING ME DOWN! And STOP kicking my ball!!" He continued to mess with her and I was worried for a while she was going to take him out for good but the coach finally put a stop to it. They learned a few techniques at the beginning of the class and then divided into teams for a little action.
Lauren was on the red team and she told me later they called themselves the "Bully team". She said it was their job to take the ball away from the nice kids. I heard her tell one of her teammates, "That blue team sure is fast!"
The kids kept taking water breaks and during one break she told me she was upset because she hadn't gotten a goal. Only one little boy from the blue team had managed a goal during the whole practice period. I told her she was doing great and to keep up the good work and she would get there. Finally in the last few seconds of her lesson, she got the ball and was making a good run of it. I thought she was going to get it in but the coach blew the whistle to end practice. 
She had a lot of fun and I can't wait to see her play some more!!
