Peggy Harrison - We Love Soccer!

Copyright 2002 by Peggy Harrison. All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: Harrison, Peggy, 1960 We love soccer! / by Peggy Harrison. p. cm.

A Random House pictureback book. eBook ISBN 978-0-385-37457-6 Trade paperback ISBN 978-0-375-81441-9 1. SoccerJuvenile literature. [1. Soccer.] I. II. II.

Random House pictureback. GV943.25 .H39 2002 796.334dc21 2001040887 randomhouse.com/kids PICTUREBACK, RANDOM HOUSE and COLOPHON , and PLEASE READ TO ME and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. v3.1 For Evan, my favorite soccer player
Thanks to Jay Shively and the Piedmont Family YMCA, Bill Mueller and the Soccer Organization of Charlottesville-Albemarle, Suzanne Eastman, Lori Lindsey, and the University of Virginia Womens Soccer Program, Gene-Tey Shin, Brian Clarke, Sara Smeker, the parents, and all the soccer players: Morgan Baker, Michael Balaban, Joy Carveth, Piper Carveth, Peter Cathcart, Colleen Flanagan, Megan Flanagan, Shannon Flanagan, Hannah Fullerton, Beraur Halldorrsson, Evan Harrison-Bibb, Camron Hatchett, Benjamin Helm, Alexis Huchek, Sabin Jackson, Suzanna Levey, Mason London-Smith, Rebecca Mendelsohn, Iyabo Olatunde, Brandie Quarles, Sean Quinn-Paziale, Eric Ragland, Noah Shin, Kevin Taylor, Brogan Thomas, Trey Webb, and Regan Wu.

Hi, my name is Megan. Im six years old and Im going to play on a real soccer team! A lot of my friends play soccer, too. At our first practice, the coaches divide us into two teams so we can play each other.

Grown-up teams have eleven players, but our teams are smaller. We all promise well still be friends no matter what team were on. Im on the blue team. So are Evan, Iyabo, and Regan. We name our team the Blue Jets because jets go really fastjust like us! Our shirts have soccer balls on the front and big numbers on the back. Iyabo is number 22 and Im number 17.

I hope those are our lucky numbers! Evans shirt is way too big! Shin guards are one of the most important pieces of our uniforms. They protect us from getting hurt by all the kicking feet. We wear long socks over the shin guards. We also wear special shoes called cleats. Cleats have bumps on the bottom that grip the grass so we wont fall and get hurt. Before we start practicing, Coach Brian talks to us about teamwork. Soccer is a team sport, so its important that we all work together. First, we learn to move the ball with our feet. First, we learn to move the ball with our feet.

Thats called dribbling. We practice dribbling the ball around orange cones, toward the other teams goal. Its hard to remember not to use our hands, but after a while, we get the hang of it. We also learn how to pass the ball with the insides of our feet. Passing is an important part of teamwork. When we want to stop the ball, we trap it by holding it with one foot. The only players who can use their hands in soccer are the goalies.