View From The Glen

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Going for Gold

All season I tell the girls Win or lose, it doesn't matter. Play hard. Play strong. Play fair. It's about having fun.

It's a relaxed league, no stress. I'm happy to lend a player to the other team if they are short because I'd rather play a good game than take advantage of a missing player and win. I mean, these are 8-10 year olds we're talking about.

And the refs are young, so if they miss a call or make a bad one, it's okay. Having been on the receiving end of obnoxious 15-year-old girls the first game I ever refereed back in 1996, I have added sympathy for newbie refs on the field.

But something changed tonight. Semi finals night, and our team being in 1st place got to play the 4th place team. And man, our opponents put up a good game...my girls really had to pull up their socks to get the victory.

And I found it a whole lot more stressful. I actually knew what the score was the entire game. So much for my non-competitive nature.\

6-4. Good game. Playing on Sunday in the finals.


They're a great bunch.

SUPER SUNDAY UPDATE:
Grace with her 1st place medal and Best Defender Award
It was an extremely harrowing game today 2-2 at the end with Grace on fire in nets (and where my girls got their goal tending skills from I will never know). We went into Penalty Shots and were even after 5, and then went into Sudden Death which we narrowly won to win the championship. Honestly, I would have taken the loss happily - it was great to play such a close game against a team that kept us on our toes - but I have to say it felt like a well deserved win for a bunch of girls who have played their hearts out all summer.







Anna's team were playing for third place (with Anna also in nets). She is the youngest and smallest on her team (of 11-14 year olds) and boy, does she look tiny in the huge goal. But she did them proud and they won 3-2, narrowly avoiding a shoot out which would have been hard to watch.

Anna saves a goal

Erik's team ended up ahead 5-2 to win their championship game. It was the first time I've seen the boys play because I coach Grace's team at the same time, but I tell you, despite having some amazing players in the girls' league, watching the boys is like watching a whole different game. Really fun to see.

Erik Post Game
Great Season Everyone! Maybe mom will treat you all to dinner out tonight!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for coaching again, Denise. And for letting the rest of us parents sit on the sidelines and socialize. The girls are having a blast.

You up for next year too? LOL

Jennifer

Julie said...

Congratulations to all your soccer stars - must be the coaching, right ;)
Not about winning and losing - it's about the lessons learned along the way and the fun that is being had