the Next Level photo: More soccer

We had an away game this last weekend. The FIL and I spent Friday moving stuff out of our 10x20 foot storage unit (all furniture) and setting it up for the yard sale on Sat/Sun. Sunday, game day, was a nice respite from the selling action. The sky was overcast with a threat of rain. Actually it rained Saturday night and Sunday morning. By game the time the rain had essentially disappeared and sun was trying to break through. I watched most of the game between our U12 boys and the Freedom Area Soccer team (as opposed to taking lots of pictures). It was seriously lopsided. Our boys lost 0 to 12. Their boys were HUGE compared to ours. They were much more aggressive, strong kicking legs and knew how to take away the ball from our boys. As in the prior three games, we pick up in the 2nd half, but it's never enough to win. This game, the score was so far off that there was never any chance for us.

The bummer was that the Freedom Soccer team played very aggressively. Soccer is an aggressive sport. We accept that. But when the opposing team (us) is half the size (of them), it's unnecessary to trip, hold and elbow. It took several times of parents saying something before the Freedom Referees finally called a holding penalty (one of the few girl players on their team actually pulling our player back by the jersey). Then it took a forearm to the neck to one of our players to get another call. Watching a game through a camera lens, I see the interaction between players. Referees just don't see that closeness. I said several times from behind the camera "what the hell?" It was a sad game from the Freedom players and the referees. Of course, the loss by 12 is pretty sad for our players too.

Here are some images. You can see the size differences in a few of them. Remember, these are 10, 11 and 12 year old players.

DENIED (Our goalie did the best job he could. Our defense just wasn't there and Freedom scored almost at will).