Soccer Saturday 2-21

There was no soccer last week due to torrential downpours. My poor hubby and three of the kids came home soaked after ref duty that started before the rain cancelled the remainder of the games for the day. That's why there was no soccer update last week.

This week, however, we had 5 games. The first game was at 830am, which was just a game that Lexi and I had to help referee, in Pearl City. The second game was at 930am in Honolulu. John took Adam, Sara, and Jacob to that one. The third game was at 10am in Pearl City (following our ref duty) for Kadie so I had the two older girls with me. The fourth game was Sara's at 1130am, and the fifth game was Jacob's at 12pm in Waipahu. We were all over the place yesterday and I am beyond thankful for a husband that can be here to help out.

At our ref duty, all the action was on my side of the field and I had a 10 year old yell at me TWICE for calls I made. His team was losing 3-0 and they ended up coming back and winning 6-3, so being mad at me for making a call wasn't really worth it. At least he was passionate about it LoL The parents on the sidelines were driving me a little nuts though. Not so much their complaining about the calls on the field by the center ref but about the way they talked to their kids about what went wrong on the field. Maybe I am just as bad, I don't know, but dang, have a little more respect and don't badmouth other players to your child.

Kadie's game resulted in their first win! The girls played pretty great for the majority of the game. There were a few times they were bunched up but mostly they stayed spread out and got the ball where it needed to go. Kadie had a great break away and took a nice shot on goal with her left foot, scoring the first goal of the game. She came right back and scored a second time! Then the coach told her to take a corner kick which was amazing. For being 10 years old and never really having to take many corner kicks, she got it right where it needed to go. It bounced off a defender and into the goal giving her a hat trick! She had another nice break away and ended up being shoved down inside the goal box without the defender making a play on the ball. No penalty was called and somehow the ball didn't go out of bounds. I was still mad about her getting shoved and missed what happened next. All I know is the ball was in the middle of the goal box with a bunch of girls fighting for it, including Kadie, and she ended up scoring ANOTHER goal! Final score, 6-1! It was a great game to watch and you can tell the girls are already improving and becoming more confident in themselves as soccer players. Let's hope they keep up this momentum!

I only received a few updates from John about Adam's game so I do not have any specifics. About 15 minutes into the game (so, the second quarter), Adam scored tying it at 2-2. He scored again just before halftime making it 4-2! Just before the game ended he snuck in another shot for a hat trick! Final score, 8-3! Way to go, Team Sub Zero! They are currently undefeated. They are a mighty little team!

I made it to Sara's game shortly before the 1st quarter ended. When Sara came off the field she was already tired. Poor girl just cannot keep up like the rest of my kids, especially when we have to get up at 630am on a Saturday and play all day in the hot sun. Her team didn't seem too into the game. Maybe they were hot, maybe they were tired, or maybe they were just already feeling defeated by a much better team. These girls are only u8 and the team they played was outstanding. Their footwork skills would be envied by my 12 and 14 year olds. Sara had a nice break away at one point and for some reason just gave up. She completely stopped following the ball and had she kept going she probably would have scored. On another break away she took a shot from the left side with her right foot and missed. Had she taken it with her left foot she may have made it. I went in to ref for the second half (parents/coaches ref for their own u8 team) and while I probably shouldn't have, I was coaching the girls on the field. Sara had another nice break away and this time game up with a goal! It was the only goal her team scored. Come to find out, the team they were playing was a club or select team, meaning they have had way more practice and a much higher quality training than out girls. The final score was 8-1. At least it wasn't a shut out.

After Sara's game we went over to Jacob's game that was just coming off the field for halftime. They were losing 4-0 (I think). The boys were playing down a player but still doing great for only have 8 players on the field. I told Jacob he needed to score twice since Sara scored once, Adam scored three times, and Kadie scored four times. Then it would be 1, 2, 3, 4 for the day. He went back out on the field and had a nice break away resulting in an amazing shot on goal and it went in! He broke away a few more times but came up short. The other team was just dominating us in speed. Their shots on goal weren't amazing but they were good enough to go in. Jacob ended up hurting his back when he tried to be superman and leap over a player's leg to turn the ball around at the end of the third quarter. In the fourth quarter he had quite a few break aways but just couldn't hang onto the ball long enough to get anything. He and another player ended up colliding and he went down on his shoulder. He had already said he hurt his shoulder during another game so I was a bit concerned but he got up and went right back at it. We ended up losing 6-1. Again, at least it wasn't a shut out. The other team just outplayed us and with them having an extra player, it really didn't help us. The lack of calling on the slide tackling was a bit frustrating, too. There was this one kid that kept slide tackling and playing the ball from the ground (which you cannot do). The referee only called it once. John was getting pissed and I had to tell him to calm down. Pretty rich coming from me, the queen of yelling at the refs. I have to admit, it's not really something I can help. It just comes out even though I know how hard it is to ref and feel like you are making the right calls and knowing when to let the boys play and when to enforce the penalty. There are quite a few iffy plays and you either just make the call and risk pissing people off or don't make the call and risk pissing people off. It's really a lose-lose-lose situation for refs.

Anyway, since all my kids scored (besides Lexi because she didn't play yesterday), I now owe them all Starbucks! Kadie keeps insisting I owe her four because she scored four times. A. I cannot afford to be paying out Starbucks for EVERY goal they make. That would be 9 drinks just for ONE day of soccer! Not happening kid! And B. the deal is not for each goal, the deal is if they score they get Starbucks. She scored, end of story. She was pretty amazing though, so maybe I will let her get a cake pop or donut, too ;)