Soccer Mad

This is the story of two letters. Both were related to soccer and both were a real surprise.

I'll tell Alfie's story first. A few weeks ago, just before the summer soccer finals took place, Alfie decided to write a letter to his favourite players in the Wellington Phoenix (our local soccer team), asking if they could come and watch him in the finals. And if they could come to our after-party as well ;)

The letter took countless attempts. He kept getting stuck on the word celebration. The floor was littered with screwed up pieces of paper and there were screams of frustration, but eventually he got it, and we sent the letter off. 

To my amazement, their Community Manager replied on the team's behalf, thanking Alfie for his letter and saying that unfortunately the team would be in Sydney that day but they would love to come to his school for a visit instead.

Only in New Zealand......!

To his credit, the new school Principal made the visit extra special for Alfie. He organised a surprise assembly for the whole school with 3 special secret guests (ie the Phoenix players, including the captain), with Alfie hosting them for the day and interviewing them at the assembly!

Here he is (with his friend Connor for support) being introduced by Mr J the principal and getting ready to ask them his 4 specially prepared questions: How old were you when you first started playing soccer? How did you get picked for the Phoenix? Which school did you go to? If you didn't play for the Phoenix what job would you do? 

It was a very special day for Alfie, who was so, so brave speaking in front of 400 people and not only that but speaking to some very famous (in Wellington anyway!) people!

And now I come to the second letter. This is a letter I NEVER, EVER, EVER thought I would ever receive home from school. The fact that the date on it was 1st April made me convinced I was being April-fooled.

Our Molly - selected to represent the school in a soccer tournament?????? !

But it was true! So Alfie gave her a crash course in soccer, trained her hard in the garden and explained all the rules to her, and she went along in her school kit (which was size 12 so it looked like a dress on her) and she played her socks off - 6 games in a day I believe! - and really really enjoyed it! Go Molly!!!!!