Well week 6 of the spring 2005 season has come and gone. Did I say spring? It sure did not feel like spring on Saturday. I think it got colder as the day went on, till around 3:00 pm when the sun came out. My toes are still cold.
The concession stand did a booming business in hot coco and coffee. We made enough last week to pay the security officers, and have a little left over. Still no sign of the shaved Ice folks.
The day started overcast and dull, but the kids would not be denied...
They came to play soccer.
From what I heard it did get a little warm on field 5 during a U19 game. A couple of the girls got into it. Both were issued Red cards and will sit out the next game on May 7th. There was also 2 yellow cards. All I have right now is second and third hand information, so I will wait on the referee report. We also had a injury in the next U19 girls game. Masie Mize got hit in the ribs by a hard kicked ball. She went down and stayed down. She was taken to the hospital to check for broken ribs. Luckily they were just bruised.
I did hear of another yellow card, and I first I said that we do not give yellow cards in the U10 division. But after hearing what happened I had to agree. I am not sure which field or which team. A keeper on a team kneeled down and stopped a shot on goal, an attacking player tried to kick the ball and got the goal keepers head. The keeper is OK, he stayed in the game. The referee (from what I was told, talked to the player and the coach). The U10 may not know he got a yellow card. I do not know if it was shown or not. Thanks to the referee (and all referees) that are doing their best to keep the games safe. The keeper position (in my mind) is the hardest position on the field. It takes a special kid to play keeper.
They do not need to play in fear.
I want to thank all the referees that came out and did games. I also want to thank a parent who has been at the fields and filling in as an Assistant Referee. David Lister has been doing the AR on 4 or 5 games each week. Not just his sons game, but any game that needs a AR.
Thanks David.
I also want to pass on something that I am very proud of. I am going to be vague and leave out names, times and such. As you know we have a growing VIP program. Some of the players have moved from VIP AYSO to Mainstream AYSO. One of the former VIP kids scored her first goal in a U12 game Saturday. As I watched the game, she was close to being offside, but was still ok. The ball was kicked up to the forwards (where she was), she got the ball and went straight to the goal, kicking the ball in. As soon as the ball hit the net her mouth dropped open, then hands came up over her mouth. I think I could read her mind " OH my, it went in". The look on her face has made the whole season worth while. As the teams were setting up for the restart, she ran over and hugged Mom. Way to go girl!!!
Greg Lawson was taking pictures again, he should be getting close to having all the kids done. It takes a while to do 140 teams and 1688 kids.
The rest of the day I got complaints, comments, and praise from parents. A typical day at the fields. With this many kids playing we (I) am never going to please everyone.
The security officer said the number of cars was down. He said the overflow lot did not fill up like normal. Guess some folks stayed home. It was interesting to see all the folks sitting in their cars (on fields 1 & 6) while their kids played in shorts.
Just a reminder that the only teams that play next week are the Under 6 and some makeup games. Some of the other teams will be at the Area 5B tournament. I want to wish the best of luck to the teams that are going. Everyone else has a free weekend.
Thanks to everyone for all you do.
See you again next week.
--
George
RC R337