Monday, October 19, 2009

Bad Weather, Slow Weekened

I live in the mid-Atlantic states.  We had some awful weather this weekend, so there really wasn't much going on.  The local high schools were giving the PSAT (a standardized test for college admissions) so there weren't too many young referees around to do recreational games.  The assignor that my younger son works with called me and asked me to do a game as he was in a jam.
When I got up on Saturday morning, I fully expect everything to be canceled.  It had rained all Friday night and the temperature was barely 40°F.  I went to the recreational website, just to confirm...what!?  The games are on?  I gathered up all my things and headed to the field.
Upon arrival, I noticed a lack of...well...anyone.  I was sure they'd never get enough players to have a game.  About 15 minutes before game time I got out of the car and walked over to the field.  It was raining steadily and still in the 40's.  There were coaches there and a handful of players.  This being recreational soccer, we stood around for a little while to see how many players would actually show.  I was quite surprised to see they ended up with about 16.  The coaches asked if I'd be OK with playing a half field game with cones as goals or playing shortened halves.  I told them either was fine.  Normally, I'd never do that, but the recreational rules make it clear they want the games to be played and it doesn't really matter how it gets done.  After some discussion, the coaches decided to go with full field, but shorteded (20 minute) halves.
We started the game with the players looking pretty miserable.  Most of them were very cold and wet.  Most had big jackets on and gloves and hats.  You could tell the experienced soccer players as they only wore hats and gloves.  The game went well and after a short while it was obvious the boys were enjoying themselves.  This is what soccer should be like.  The kids were getting a game in while some of their "softer" buddies were in their nice warm houses.  Nobody seemed to care who won, they were just out playing for fun.
It rained the rest of the weekend. All my competitive games were canceled, so that was it for the weekend.  Maybe next weekend we'll finally get some games done.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well at least you got to do the games. My league has called off two weekends full of games so far. I understand that it is for the saftey don't get me wrong, it's just a bummer as I look forward to it.