Athlete

It would seem that the smallest of us all has a natural talent for just about anything athletic.  It becomes clearer every day how much of a natural athlete Erin is.  The only organized sport that she plays is soccer, and we only do that on a purely Parks & Rec level.  This is largely due to time constraints.  You see, this natural athlete also loves anything music or drama as well as Girl Scouts, church activities....you name it.

Erin's abilities at soccer are quite natural, yet she over thinks much of the game.  She knows when to be where, but tries to remember so hard that Coach Daddy says, "Pass The Ball" to everyone else that she tends to pass the ball a little too quickly.  She's played wing for several seasons, but when placed on defense a few times this season, she quickly took to that position as well.  Knowing how to keep the opponent to the outside, when to challenge for the ball, what angle to take to cut him off.  Did we teach her any of that?  Nope, she just figured it out.

Last summer Erin and I trained for the 4-Miler here in the 'ville.  Well, we started training again this morning. I have continued to run throughout the year on and off.  I trained for a 5K back in April.  I made Erin go on 2 training runs with me.  We ran together and she beat me in that race.  She even finished 2nd in her age group.  At school at the end of the year she got a "fastest dragon award" for completing a mile in 9:16.  Today we headed out with a group of ladies for a 2.5 mile run.  Erin took off, and I reminded her (since she hasn't run since April) that she shouldn't go too fast.  That was the last I saw of her.  She was gone and clocked her 2.5 miles in under 24 minutes.  I was proud of my 26 minutes (keeping myself under a 10 min pace!!).

Erin apparently also has a gift for about any sport she tries.  Basketball?  When she asks to shoot around at the gym she typically makes 6 of 10 shots she takes.  Does she know any rules of the game?  Not really, but she can shoot the ball.  Gymnastics?  We haven't done any tumbling since she was 6.  Still some friends were doing round-offs at recess one day and she wanted to try.  She now excels at them (and can still do her back bends from a stand) enough that her friend's sister keeps asking if Erin wants to do Cheer with them (no, we don't have time).

There are times I think we should take more advantage of her athletic abilities, but also I know that when she gets pushed, Erin tends to push back.  Clearly these things are nothing more than fun for her.  I don't want to make it less fun.  We need to keep more fun in our lives.  We are so busy with all the other activities that she's not willing (nor should she want) to give up to focus on athletics.  So we will keep running, playing soccer, shooting baskets and tumbling as well as singing, dancing, acting, playing piano etc...

I'll make sure to let you know how badly she beats me in the 4-Miler late this August!!