As many of my faithful followers are well aware, I'm not much of a soccer player. As evidenced in this post from my time in Korea, soccer and I do not always agree with each other. So a couple of weeks ago when we (C II-6) was invited to play a friendly game of soccer with some members of C II-4 and C II-5, my initial reaction was to politely decline and just sit along the sidelines, watch, and cheer. Honestly, the majority of the group took this route. It seemed to be the safer, less dangerous way to go against some people that appeared to take the game a bit more seriously then ourselves.
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Now the game of soccer that our group participated in here was a bit different than a regular game of soccer that world has come to know and love. Due to the size of the field, teams are made up of 5 players each instead of the standard 11. This makes for a bit of a faster game overall. The first go around was super entertaining to watch and we all definitely had a great time!
As it turned out, these games happen every Thursday. So, when the next opportunity came around to partake in a game, I stepped up and took the opportunity. As many of you may know, Michael Owen was a famous soccer player in England. During his glory days, he played for the national team, along with Manchester United, one of the top club teams in England. I, by no means, will ever be confused with that Michael Owen. The only thing that I can do really well with my feet is run, let alone try to control a ball, pass, and even think about shooting/scoring a goal.
The game itself wasn't all that bad. There turned out to be about 14 of us, so we ended up playing 6-on-6 with two subs. I ended up playing most of the game and found out that I was really good at darting up and down the field, distracting the other good players from what was going on. As long as no one passed me the ball, I was happy. On the off chance that the ball was directed my way, I did the best that I could to redirect it away from my person to someone who actually knew what they were doing.
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| Just some proof that I actually did play |
The following time that we played actually ended up being the best one so far. There were 20 of us from our training group that participated. That meant 4 teams of 5 and we rotated after either 2 minutes or 2 goals, which ever came first. I was a part of the All-Star team of Kathleen, Derek, Christopher, and Jimmy. By All-Star, I mean the team of players who had never played organized soccer in their entire lives. Needless to say, being on the field for 2 minutes was never a real problem for our team - we were just ecstatic to make it a minute! Despite our lack of team chemistry and a basic understanding of the game itself, this was just a great time because no one took the games that seriously. We were all there to just run around and have a good time.
One of the coolest aspects of these games is the fact that everyone supports everyone else. There are a few people that have some pretty awesome soccer talent, but they do their best to make sure that everyone on the field feels like they are a part of the team. They could very easily just take over the game with their fancy footwork and laser shots, but choose not to. For me (and I'm pretty sure the others that play), this is much appreciated. So thanks Alex T., Drew, and the other "semi-pro" players in our group - your all-inclusive attitudes makes Thursdays one of my favorite days of the week!
I'm actually excited to keep playing every Thursday. It makes for a fun end to a long day of training and sitting in the freezing conference room at the office. Who knows - if I keep this up for the next two years, I may be soon competing for a spot on the US National Team. World Cup 2018 here I come!
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| Barbara almost getting one past Drew! |
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