Spring is here, and aside from a lot of cleaning, garage sale-hopping and yearning for summer, spring also means a new season of sports for many families.  

And our little family is doing a jig of joy because we’ve fallen hard for our community sports league.

You got it. We have a big-time crush. All of us—from our youngest (who wishes she were one year older so she could play) to my soccer-loving husband (who has waited his life to coach our kids).

This year rings in our second spring of participating in organized community sports, and again, I am amazed, in awe and in love with the organization. 

It’s a real turning point for parents when their kids cross over from the toddler and preschool "run-crazy-around-the-field-and-cry-for-snacks-the-whole-time" kind of an activity to the "some-drills-and-skill-work-and-really-starting-to-play-the-game" deal. I think it’s either really scary, a real flop or really awesome. For us, it was pretty much awesome.

We were hesitant, at first, to jump into this world, but I’m glad we did and I’m even more excited for this season. All of a sudden, our community has become a whole lot smaller—and much more connected. Families that we had seen way back when our oldest was in a two-day preschool program are now our new weekend buddies. Swim team pals are reunited on the soccer field and we have a chance to get to know some elementary school families we hadn’t met before. This season we’ve reconnected with a couple we took our "Preparing for Childbirth" class with before our first was born. Our daughter will be running down the field with a gal she was pals with in utero while I was freaking out about how we’d get her outta there.

Within the grids of more than a dozen mini-soccer fields on the expanse of one lush property lie our church friends, our school friends and our neighbors. Our summertime pool buddies, our book club friends and our trusty, loyal carpool pals. Familiar faces from the gym are cheering for the kids I hear them talking about and (finally!) we get a chance to see the spouses who work long hours or frequently travel. Parents balance coffee in one hand and their camera in the other and take turns watching little players on the field and their "tinies" on the sidelines. 

The snack stand pumps out hot chocolate, Gatorade and doughnuts and the lost-and-found bucket overflows from Day One with school sweatshirts and lonely shin guards. We hang out with our kids’ teachers, our peers, our parents and for the first time—really, the first time—I feel like this is a community I could really start to call home.