The Lee Family: Pink Pirates Portraits

Friday, April 15, 2016

Pink Pirates Portraits

During yesterday's practice at McPherson Park, I pulled each of the Pink Pirates aside to do individual pictures and then took a team photo at the end of practice. I was so thankful that all the girls remembered to wear their uniforms. I was worried that one of them wouldn't be able to make practice or one of more of the girls would forget to wear their jerseys. A few weeks ago, all the CSA soccer teams were offered to take "professional" photos at the Crown of Life church which is right next to the fields. I had already offered to take the photos for the Pink Pirates, so we never stopped by but I hadn't offered yet for Olivia's Purplicious team. Olivia and I arrived at 7:40am to take our individual and team photos and I found out that it was all photo shopped and the girls would just be added together on a black background. Plus, one sheet of photos and a "Facebook profile photo" was offered at $25. It seemed outrageous and looked ridiculous, so I called Coach Ryan and offered to take the photos for all the Purplicious girls as well as a team photo.

The weather for the Pink Pirate girls was perfect and there was little wind to make their hair look crazy. McPherson Park is such a beautiful back-drop and I really was pleased by the images I captured. I actually pulled a few ideas from Pinterest on how to set up the girls in cute poses and really liked how they turned out. As I took photos of each of the girls, I was struck by how many new faces the team now has. I guess I knew it from going to the games and other practices, but nearly half of the girls are new since Sofia quit about a year ago. They are all very sweet and thoughtful girls and still make up such a great team. The girls have been practicing at McPherson Park from 5-6:30pm every week on Thursdays and then have a 20-30 minute warm-up before the game and the one hour game. It's pretty much the perfect amount of soccer and McPherson Park is a fantastic location since it isn't overrun with other kids and they have beautiful walking trails and a small playground, which the girls always want to visit after practice. Coach Jeff, Chloe's dad is an absolute fantastic coach and has been helped by his 7th grade daughter, Hannah, who is also a great soccer player who has been playing for years. Coach Jeff knows so much about soccer and always has the girls doing really interesting drills that encourage passing and setting up for goals. He's really turned the girls into a great team that are very good at working together during games. He's tough on them but also is the first to praise them and tell them when they have done a good job. He's also very focused on the ensuring each girl knows how to play every position and wants every one of the girls to score a goal during the season! As much as Sofia loves playing defense or goalie (and she's pretty good at these positions), he's been playing her on offense more often in the past few games to give her an opportunity to score. I love that he does this for the team and is so focused on teaching them soccer skills and how to succeed. I'm so glad Sofia joined back up on the team and that she's enjoying it!

Our soccer player!