Well we needed some scrimmage games to gel our team and gain much needed experience. It was an answer to a prayer. So out of no-where Stan got a call from a coach in Hinesville about a 3 game tournament.
So we go Saturday with one man down, after our win on Friday night. It started around 4:30 AM Saturday and didn’t end until 2:45 AM Sunday morning.
Well we start out to our first tournament with 10 players. After a four hour ride we ended up in Hinesville. It was hot, the fields were in a swampy area, and it had just rained. It was like a sauna. Well we had our first game, it was close we won 1-0. Matthew scored. It was a tough game, we had three fullbacks who did awesome defense (Quinton, Kazim, and Kasey). Midfielders went on the attack and got back on defense. They shut the other team down. The keeper (Josh) kept the ball out of the back of the goal. Everyone did great. No one ever got tired. I was beginning to think this team couldn’t lose. After that game we talked about what we could do better and they drank some power-aid, ate lunch, and rested. Kazim got the first yellow card.
At 3:00 PM we had our 2nd Game. Kasey was goal keeper. This game was a tough one. Matthew scored two early goals. One he dribbled through 7 of the other teams players. Their coach was livid. It was spectacular. Kasey made some awesome saves. Josh played right forward and scored a nice goal speed dribbling past the keeper and tapping it in. It was sweet. It was 3-0 at half. The other team came back strong in the second half. They scored 2, but the FB’s (Robbie, Kazim, Quinton and for a little while Josh) held them off. Jake made a ran for the goal and dribbled all the way down the field and took a shot on goal. Ralph got a yellow card. LOL The celebration was short in favor of some shade and power-aid. The guys ate and drank power-aid while watching our final competitor play. Just to tell you how much they sweated, Matthew wrung his sock out like a wash rag and water came out like a wet wash rag.
At 5, we played our final competitor. Josh in the goal. 4 strong backs (Kasey, Kazim, Robbie, and Quinton). Matthew was playing striker. Well we gave it our best. This team was very experience and had perfect fundamentals (trapping, passing, overlaps). Their backs were pretty fast too. We had a few runs at their goal, but we ended up on our side of the field most of the time. They pounded our Keeper(Josh) and our backs, but they hung in there. They scored 5 in the first half. At half time, the team was falling apart mentally, short tempered, and down on themselves. After a little speech, they got back out there and took a pounding again. They never stopped hustling and again I was proud of these young men. Josh H. really work very hard even when he we exhausted. The host came over to congratulated and give the team a trophy. He let the team know they played good with 10 players and he was very impressed.
Then Matthew suggested we go to Chilis. We are not going to let him pick again. 2 hours later we ate. LOL
At the end of the day I was so proud of these young men. I have never seen 10 men work so hard so consistently. They never complained or drug around. They worked very very hard in tremendous heat. Kasey, Kazem, and Quinton had blisters on their feet. They drank over 13 gallons of power-aid.
This helped the team tremendously. Thanks to Mrs. Teresa Smith for all the power-aids. Thank my wife for all she did. Thank those youg men for all they did. Finally Thank God for it all!!
Coach
