On January 4, 2012, soccer player Tim Howard became the first goalie in English Premier League history to score from his own penalty area. He kicked the ball downfield, from his own box, to about 30 yards from the net. The ball then bounced over Adam Bogdan, the opposing goalkeeper and into the goal.

You can see the amazing <a title="Tim_Howard_goalie_scores" href="http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/premierleague/story/Everton-united-states-goalkeeper-tim-howard-makes-premier-league-history-with-goal-010412" target="_blank">film footage here</a>.

I've watched that clip five times now, and laughed and remembered the afternoon, 17 years ago, when our son Jonathan, then six years old, accomplished the same feat.

[caption id="attachment_987" align="aligncenter" width="389" caption="Jonathan, age 7, with his arms in the air. His team, the Georgia YMCA state champs, had just defeated the Alabama state champions."]<a href="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Jsoccerteam7yr.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-987 " title="Jsoccerteam7yr" src="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Jsoccerteam7yr.jpg" alt="" width="389" height="389" /></a>[/caption]

All five of our children played soccer. In fact, one Fall they all played on select, traveling soccer teams.  Andrew and Matthew, fortunately played on the same team that year. But that still left us with four different traveling teams to follow.

[caption id="attachment_975" align="alignleft" width="199" caption="Andrew at age 8."]<a href="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Andrewsoccer2.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-975" title="Andrewsoccer2" src="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Andrewsoccer2-246x300.jpg" alt="Andrew at age 7." width="199" height="243" /></a>[/caption]

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[caption id="attachment_974" align="alignright" width="184" caption="Matthew at age 6."]<a href="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Matthewsoccer.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-974 " title="Matthewsoccer" src="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Matthewsoccer-230x300.jpg" alt="" width="184" height="240" /></a>[/caption]

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And we had ALWAYS gone to our children's sporting events.

"Why do we watch you play ball?" we would ask them.

"Because you love us," they answered. We wanted them to be clear on that point.

<dl id="attachment_973" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 186px;"><dt class="wp-caption-dt"><a href="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Benjsoccer.jpg"><img class="wp-image-973     " title="Benjsoccer" src="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Benjsoccer-195x300.jpg" alt="" width="176" height="270" /></a></dt></dl>

[caption id="attachment_977" align="alignnone" width="196" caption="Lisette at age 11."]<a href="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Lisettesoccer.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-977 " title="Lisettesoccer" src="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Lisettesoccer-245x300.jpg" alt="" width="196" height="240" /></a>[/caption]

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We cheered on a lot of soccer sidelines over the years!<a href="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Lisettesoccer.jpg">
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The year of the four traveling teams, we made the decision that we would make the home games for all five, and as many of the away games as we could, for the three younger children. We were not able to make any of Andrew and Matthew's away games.

We explained out decision to our children. There were only tow of us; we could only do what we could do. We could not be in two places at once. Our children understood and accepted that.
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The year Jonathan kicked a goal, as a goalie, was the year he was six years old. The first year he played organized soccer.  But certainly not the first year he'd played soccer.

He kicked the ball around with his siblings since he could walk. And while they cut him a little slack for being the youngest, by the time he was six, he knew the game and was accustomed to playing with much older players.

[caption id="attachment_982" align="aligncenter" width="406" caption="Jonathan kicking the ball in high school."]<a href="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Jonkicking.jpg"><img class=" wp-image-982" title="Jonkicking" src="http://motherhoodstress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Jonkicking-745x1024.jpg" alt="" width="406" height="558" /></a>[/caption]

The other six year old boys at the YMCA played "herd ball," running up and down the field in a group, trying to figure out where the ball might be. While Jonathan took the ball down the field and kicked it into the goal. Over and over. Boys on both teams cheered each time he scored.  Twenty times that Fall, in the 5 or 6 game season.

In one of the last games of the season, the coach put Jonathan in goal, presumably to give one of the other boys a chance to score. As goalkeeper, Jonathan kicked a punt down the field, over the heads of the other boys, and into the net on the far end of field.

The officail wasn't sure if the goal could count. Finally, he decided it could, but only because the other keeper had touched the ball with his fingertips, as the ball

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