Football

James' second year of football went a lot better. In large part because many players had some experience this time but mostly because they actually played teams at their own grade level (5th grade). James was like a coach on the field. He often would get signals from the coaches on the sidelines and then tell the defense what to do. He did a good job and bounced between Defensive End and Linebacker. On offense he played center and he also did a great job of getting people lined up where they should be. We tell him he is going to make a great coach someday. Oh and I forgot to mention James got a couple of opportunities to kick the extra point. He did a great job practicing and had the coaches confidence he could do the job. 

Ethan's 7th grade They were in the A league (the toughest teams) because they played well enough from the last years to keep moving up to harder divisions. The team was small in numbers and size. The Rigby, Idaho Falls, and Madison teams all seemed to average about 5 inches taller than we were. Of course, Ethan has grown since football and is probably 3 inches bigger than he was. Ethan's team played hard and actually beat last years champs but they ended with a losing record. Since Ethan's team doesn't have a quarterback that really can throw to him as a receiver and because he is shifty and good running with the ball he was moved to running back. He had some impressive runs and broke tackles as a running back but his longest runs came as a kick returner. Ethan scored touchdowns as a running back (running), receiver (catching), and as a quarterback on a trick play (throwing a touchdown pass to James Hansen). On defense Ethan played mostly safety or cornerback and covered well (this league actually had really good quarterbacks and some teams who would throw the ball quite a bit). 

Ethan and James basically play the entire game (offense, defense, and special teams - most boys rotate in and out with others but for their positions they don't really have others go in a sign of how good they are and how much their coaches trust them.