Monday, May 04, 2009

Peli 7.9

Saturday's line: three goals, one assist. He played offense for half the game.

Part of this domination is an age-based illusion, because this is a 6-7 league, so Eli is one of the oldest players now, but what's not an illusion is that he really knows how to finish. He's played three games so far this season, and he has nine goals on ten shots. Plus he's got four assists.

Saturday he did something that just blew me away. He had a long run down the right side, and as he neared the corner (with about five kids following him), instead of trying to turn and dribble toward the goal, he stopped and lofted a perfect cross to one of his teammates in the box. He put it right on the kid's foot, who was so surprised that he shanked it from about five feet in front of the goal and didn't score.

I'm happy for Eli because he's not turning into a big snot about having success, and he's been trying very hard to help other kids on his team score. It's hard to have perspective when you're seven (hell, it's hard to have perspective as an adult), but he doesn't seem too impressed by what he's doing--he just plays hard, has fun, and enjoys his juice box.

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