GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL. Week 1 of the Spring 2007 season has come and gone and from all indications, we scored a hat trick. The the rain held off, the kids got to play soccer, and no one got hurt. That’s a hat trick in my book.

From all accounts, the day went well, the CVPA’s were collecting and checking volunteer forms. We should be at 100% compliance by next weekend. That’s another GOAL in my book.

I saw a lot of smiling faces on players because they were having fun. A lot of us missed our soccer families during the winter break. It was good to get back out on the fields. That’s another GOAL in my book.

A comment was made that “That mulch stinks”. I replied, it is to cover the odor of the port-a-potties (that’s my Patterson humor for the day).

Referees covered most of the games; a couple of U8 games were covered by their coaches. Maybe they will get some parents to volunteer to become referees. I know of one new referee that did his first U8 game. He told the parents up front that this was his first game as a referee, and he may make some mistakes. After the game, one of the coaches thanked him for doing the game. The coach went so far as to say he really liked how the referee had worked with the players during the game. Do we have the best referees or what. That’s another GOAL in my book.

The concession stand had lines all day. Guess I am not the only one that misses Gail’s hot dogs.

The security office was parking cars and checking to see that every thing was going smoothly. It was. We did have some guy in a small pickup that parked between the handicap spaces on the blue lines. We tried to find him but he slipped away.

Angela and Amanda were selling jerseys. Angela reported she sold about $2500 worth.

I want to especially thank the following folks. Our game day coordinators had to leave early. So Amy and Lynn Waller, her girls Jordan and McKenzie along with Cindy Harrison, Laura Walters, and Melissa Range collected all the corner flags, game balls, and all the referee items and put them up. Thank You.

It looks like we have a lot of new people or old AYSO folks that either do not know or do not care or they just forgot. Folks these are OUR fields, please put your trash in the trash cans. There was a lot of trash left on the fields. Thats a yellow card. You do not leave trash in your yard; do not leave it on your field. The games went well, some won, some did not. All the kids I saw had fun. I did not hear of any major blow outs. We did have a special game. Our U16 girl’s team played a U16 boys team from another region. The team the U16 girls were to play canceled early; the boys had a bye game. The coaches worked it out and the kids got to play. From what I heard from the referees, the girls out played the boys. However, the boys had the speed. The girls will do well against an all girls team.

It was a good day, many tired folks. But it was a good tired, because we all know we did something for the kids. That’s another GOAL in my book.

See you next week on the fields.

--
George