Let's Play Soccer!                                                                                                   A Great Gift Idea for your little athlete.                      For ages 3-9,  hard cover book, 36 pages,  6 3/4 by 8 1/4,   $15.95   Sportsmanship, fun, family and friends go hand in hand with this exciting book that commemorates your child's beginning soccer experience! This book includes your child's name, coach, up to four teammates and team name.    Add a photo of your little athlete or his (her) entire team to commemorate this exciting part of his life.

Let's Play Soccer

                                                  Sample Page from Let's Play Soccer - A great gift for your little athlete

Let's Play Soccer - Selecting a Team Name

Personalized parts are highlighted in yellow.  "Now we need a team name," said Coach John. "Let's all put our heads together and choose a name."    After a couple of minutes, we decided we wanted to be called the Wildcats.

Let's Play Soccer (Complete Story)                             

I remember my first day of soccer.  Dad⁵ had signed me up. My coach, John Paul Jones¹, called to tell us to come to Pottter Field³ in Chicago for our first practice.

The coach had everyone sit down on the grass and said, "My name is John Paul Jones, but you can call me John²."

"Now I need to learn your names."

He started calling out the names on the team, "Ron Nixon, Rob Newman, Bill Hickock, Fred Carmichael⁴."

Finally I heard "Robert Smith." I was so excited, I couldn't answer! Dad had to nudge me to raise my hand and say, "Here!"

After a couple of minutes, we decided we wanted to be called the Wildcats.

John told us that since we were just starting, we would be taught the basics of soccer. Our first rule was: "Remember that soccer is just a game, the most important thing is to have fun!"

No one listened and the goalie caught all of our balls.

Finally, it was game time!

John lined us up on our side of the field.

Even though John told us to "Look up, look around and spread out," we still bunched up and both teams battled to get the ball.

Dad said we looked like a swarm of bees!

I felt sorry for the ball!

Everyone was trying to kick it at the same time.

I finally got the ball and John shouted, "Take the ball down the field, Bobby, and shoot!"

I dribbled as fast as I could with both teams chasing me.

When I got close to the goal, I shot! But it went right to the goalie. It was caught. Rats!

I wished I had listened to my coach!

The goalie punted the ball. A player from the other team trapped it and started running toward our goal. Both teams were chasing the player.

 John shouted, "Bobby, think defense!"
 I ran up and kicked the ball out of bounds.  Just then the referee blew the whistle and the game was over.

John lead us in a line toward the other team. We shook hands and told each of the other players, their coach and the referee, "Good game!"

I don't even know who won, but I know we all had fun!

The best part of the whole day came when John said, "You all played your best and made me proud. Now, who wants a drink and a snack?"

THE END