Bend It Like Jill...

I am so excited to be able to write about my niece Jill today since I finally got to take some pictures at one of her games! First, I'll make two admissions:

1. Until a couple years ago I hated soccer. I think I considered it the step mother of sports. Trying so hard to look fun and pretty and taking the attention away from real sports like football and baseball and volleyball. Then, my niece started playing in 7th grade which leads me to my second point.

2. I'm kind of biased. If you knew me in the winter and spring of 1994, you know that besides Andy, my life revolved around the upcoming birth of my niece / nephew. As way of example, I made everyone on the college of education van listen to the audio tape of her fetal heartbeat that my brother had sent to me while I was at OU. So for Jill's sake, I gave soccer a try. And though I still don't understand it, I do find it fun to watch her play.

Now, disregarding number 2 for a second, let me tell you that Jill is darn good. This is a girl that never played an organized sport until she decided to try out for the soccer team in 7th grade at her former school, FCA. It is quite a small school so everyone from 7-12 plays on the same team and it didn't take long for Jill to be a starter! When she transferred to a much larger (Division II) school this year as a freshman (my alma mater- Fairfield Union) she not only decided to play soccer but also be in the Marching Band (YEH!) And guess what- she is excelling at both! She made the Varsity as a freshman and sometimes even starts!

Unfortunately for Jill, my lack of expertise in the sport makes it hard for me to take very good pictures. But I figure that by the time she's a senior, I'll have some good ones for her if I keep practicing! Here are my favorites from their 9-0 drubbing of Alexander High School today in their first round of tournament action.


This is one step before the kick that scored a goal (this was her fourth goal this year).

I love this picture because it points out that many of the girls are much (ah-HEM) "bigger" than Jill (14) but I've seen her take on big girls like this one all year!

I liked this shot because it looks pretty cool and even though it looks like she's just warming up and everyone is watching her, this is actually during the game.

In all honesty, Jill is on a fantastic team lead by 11 or 12 seniors and they have only lost one game and tied one other this year. The older girls seem to have done a great job of encouraging and teaching the younger ones. An extra fun thing for me is that many of the girls on her team were my former students from when I taught at Bremen!

Oh, and a little FYI- I have no idea what it means to "bend it like..." but I'm pretty sure it is a good thing-just let me know if it is not!!!