Fussball, Los Geht's

One of the big advantages of living in Germany is soccer! Soccer is everywhere, which is exactly how it should be. We took the plunge this fall and signed Micah and Asher up to join the local soccer club in our village. Our village is lucky enough to have an artificial turf Sportplatz, which is a 10-minute walk from our home. It is a huge deal to have one of these artificial turf complexes because it really puts a German locale on the map. Germans (and Europeans in general) love to have a community place to congregate to socialize over a drink and Bratwurst. The village church used to serve this purpose, but those days are past and the new sacred ground for any German village is the Sportplatz.  

The boys are the only English-speaking kids on their respective teams. We actually like it that way because this German soccer experience provides an "immersion" type environment for them to learn the language. In just a few short weeks, the boys are already well-versed in the fundamentals of German soccer vocabulary: Anstoss, Eckball, Abstoss, Elf Meter, schiessen, abgeben, aus, Tor. Understandably, the boys are still both a little shy with their teammates simply because they have no idea what anyone is saying. Luckily, both of their awesome coaches speak great English, so they provide translations as needed. My hope is that by the end of December, both boys will be comfortable with the language on the soccer field and conversing with their teammates. That is what language immersion is all about, and it helps if you throw in the fact that both boys are emerging as the top players on their teams. Many of the parents have asked us where the boys learned to play the game. When I tell them they learned it in America, they don't believe us. I guess they are shocked that a few American boys can come to Germany and play the game so well. 

I'm proud of both Micah and Asher. I love to see them play soccer. I now have a greater appreciation for my own dad, who always urged us to play sports as well so that he could watch us have fun. What a great lesson to learn: there is no greater joy as a parent than to see my kids smile.

Here are few pics from Asher's first home game (Heimspiel). He played extremely well, scoring two goals and adding on an assist. 

His uniforms are sweet. German club uniforms are a big deal. The team manager brings them to each game and the kids get dressed from head to toe right there at the field. The jerseys come with matching shorts and socks. This whole scenario, plus the bonus of playing on "professional" artificial turf makes the boys feel like they've hit the big leagues. 

Micah has yet to play in a game because we are waiting for his paperwork to be processed by the overarching German league association. Each player who plays at Micah's level (and above) has to have a "football passport" to play with his club at a game. Once we get his passport, we'll have plenty of photos of Micah to post.