1… 2… 3… UNITED!
Within three months of moving here, I joined a soccer team last February. It was a second division co-ed team. Here in Beaumont, we have two leagues: over 30, and open. Both leagues are co-ed. Each league has a first and second division. When I joined my team (United) last year, we had just formed and most of us did not know each other. The league requires that you have five guys and five girls on the field (goalie can be male or female). Like all the other teams, we struggled to get enough girls to play, and were often playing light.
We did our best, and managed to tie for first in our division, despite a rocky season and a poor record. The previous team organizer/coach quit the team weeks before rosters were due for the fall season, forcing me to pick up the torch. With the deadline for signing up quickly approaching and not enough players to form a team, we were uncertain if we would get to play at all. In the last week before registration was due, I made a push and managed to get the league minimum 11 players signed up (8 guys and 3 girls). Our first league game we only had seven people show up (6 guys and one girl the bare minimum to play). It was not looking good for us, but we pushed forward.
In the first few weeks of the season, I managed to get a lot of new people signed up. By the halfway point of the season we had 11 guys and 11 girls and were starting to look like a real team. By the end, we were great.
This past weekend we played our last game. Going into the game we were one point ahead of the Average Joes, the second place team (3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie and 0 points for a loss in soccer). Our last game was against them, the winner of which would be the division champion. The Average Joes in particular does not like my team. When my team was created last winter, it was made of players leaving the Average Joes. Furthermore they think I play too rough and too mean. They are always complaining about me. My team doesn’t like their team. The Average Joes has almost the entire league board on it. They complain and whine too much, and they have been accused of using the league presidency to their advantage. The rivalry between our teams escalated all season.
Although I was a bit late getting out of work on Sunday, I made it in time for the kickoff. Emir had taken charge of things in absence. We played beautifully, racking up a 5-1 score. With only a few minutes left, we let our defense push forward and dropped our offense back so that the defense could play the field. The Average Joes scored 3 goals in a matter of minutes at which point we promptly switched back, and finished the game out 5-4. Many of them didn’t shake our hands.
About half the team came back to my place for an after party of beer, pizza and hookah.
The above picture is the pregame cheer that I instituted as a way to get everyone pumped up and excited about the game. This season, our entire team’s chemistry and mentality really came together. Everyone smiled more, everyone chatted more before and after the games, everyone laughed more and everyone seemed to have more confidence on the field. Hopefully we can make the trip to the state championships.
Thanks: Dustin, Taylor, Scott, Emir, Ben, Cory, Joey, Parker, Robin, Mitch, Rainy, Carolina, Kay, Brittany, Christy, Courtney, Brooke, Abi, Jackie, Ruksana, and Danice.
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