Week 7 of the Spring 2007 started out overcast, then it rained, then it was sunny and warm. Typical East Tennessee weather, changing several times a day. This weekly report is later than normal. There has been a lot going on in my family and I am just now getting to write it.

I want to thank all the referees that did games; we had a lot more referees than last week. It was good to see them on the fields. We did have a special guest referee. Dianne Stratton the Referee Administrator for Region 124, helped out on a U12 girls game that needed an AR.

The concession stand was doing a lot better. Last week we made enough to pay the security guard. Some of coaches with the later games brought their teams to the concession stand for snow cones. The players really love the snowcones.

This weeks Patterson humor was told to me by someone else that I greatly respect. It seems one little boy was checking out the contents of the Patterson. To his young eyes, there was a human finger in one of them. He tried to tell his mom, but she would not look, even tried telling some friends no one would look. I am sure that if an adult had looked it could have been explained.

There were no real problems at the fields on Saturday. I got to watch a former player of mine play goalkeeper for her U12 team. Her mom is a referee, coach and former board member. Cassie Clark is about the size of a U8 player, but she has a heart bigger than any U19 player. Cassie was in the goal for her team. She did really well. Her team was doing good the score was 1 – 0 in her teams favor. But alas it was not to last. When your little the U12 goals are huge. She stopped all the shots on the ground and to the sides. However, those high chip shots did her in. She tried, and she did all she could for 3 quarters. But the 4th quarter got her. I think the final score was 3 to 1. It was a very good game, both teams played well.

There was not a lot of trash left on the fields and we did return 2 lost soccer balls to their rightful owners. The parents were happy, the kids were happy and that is 2 less in the storage building. I did see a father show his son the difference between a trash can (large blue barrel with no lid) and a plastic recycle can (smaller, green and with a lid). The son was going to put his trash in the recycle can and Dad stopped him. Told the boy the trash goes over there, this is for plastic bottles. At least some folks are trying to recycle plastic.

Overall, it really was a great day for soccer, the games were played, and the kids had fun.

Next week is the Area 5B games. The U6 teams will play their last games on May 5th. The rest of the teams U8 – U19 will be in the Area games, doing makeup games, or have a free Saturday. There are some U10 and U12 Area Tournament Games that will be played on Friday and maybe Saturday. The VIP will still play on Friday as will Soccer Moms and Dads. The final games for the spring season for U8 – U12 will be May 12th. The U14/16/19 will have their final games on May 19th. Soccerfest for the U8 – U12 is also May 19th.

Hope to see you all out at the fields in the final weeks of the Spring 2007 season.

--
George