Tuesday, June 06, 2017

From the Crap Part of LoCo

My daughter has played travel soccer for the past five years. Over that time, she's been a part of some decidedly mediocre sides, playing at the lower levels of the DMV soccer pyramid. She's a decently-skilled kid, but she's small, and she's lazy as hell, so she's been surpassed by kids who've worked much harder to get better. I'd like to say that there's a life lesson in there, but I never learned it, and I'm afraid I've passed on my work ethic in addition to my size.

We hired coaches based on height.
It's possible that she's played her final game in Loudoun Soccer's red and black - tryouts just ended, and hers is a competitive age group. I'll be bummed for her if she doesn't make a team, because she claims to love the game, but we'll both get over it.

If this is, in fact, her swan song, I think I sent her (and her teammates) out on a high note.

Last November at the Club's annual gala, I won an auction for a customized message from Michael Davies and Roger Bennett, better known in soccer circles as Men in Blazers. I had no idea what I was going to do with the message, but I was drunk, and I thought it was a cool thing to have in my back pocket.

During the Fall soccer season, my daughter's team proved to be hard-working (most of them), highly coachable, and rapidly improved as a group. They finished that campaign with a 3-3-2 record, narrowly missing promotion to the first division of the Old Dominion Soccer League (ODSL), which is itself the lowest of leagues in the byzantine local landscape.

My blog, my kid.
In the Spring, they continued to improve, gaining confidence as their results became incrementally better. They started with a 1-3 performance in a tournament against teams from much higher divisions and leagues, though they were in each of those matches until the late stages. They got out to a 4-1 start during regular season play before running into a physical and talented squad and falling, 7-1. They bounced back from that drubbing, learning a lot of lessons about intensity and effort, and went 2-0-2 in a Memorial Day tournament, again against ostensibly much better competition. They tied the team that ultimately won the event, giving that team its only blemish. They scored seven goals and allowed one across the event's four matches. And my lazy daughter scored her team's only goal in a 1-1 tie, on nothing more than sheer effort. It might've been her finest moment, save a sick slide tackle she pulled off in the game in which she's pictured above.

In their final regular season match, with promotion to the first division assured, they faced the same team that bullied them a short month ago. In the movies, this is where the plucky underdogs complete their narrative arc, punch Biff in the mouth, and ride off into the sunset. In reality, the girls played their asses off, fighting back from a 1-0 deficit to tie the game, only to yield a late goal on a fluky bounce to lose, 2-1.

They won't remember that part, most likely. They will, I hope, remember  the video that Davo and Rog made for them. I wasn't sure if they'd like it, or even get it, but the feedback I've received has been amazing. Hell, I was happy enough to do this just for me. To know that it made a great group of kids happy (and made them thing I have some serious juice) is serious icing on the cake.



19 comments:

Whitney said...

Pretty dang cool, and I don't even know who those dudes are.

Squeaky said...

Awesomely brilliant. Love the Cruyff comparison.

Danimal said...

On our last full day of a 5-day Disney Cruise, our first. And last. Not b/c it was a bad experience, we just learned we aren't true Disney folk. The people on this ship are large-in-part Disney freaks, or Disneyphiles as some call them. Kids loved it even though they've each been held over the side of the ship a few times by their frayed father. The 5 of us are in a room the size of our family room back home, so it's cozy.
Great people watching. Several single people, several couples sans kids, several couples with one child under a year old, and a few with their adult high-school or college-aged children. And this isn't like airfare where if your child is under 2 she gets on for free....it's a big ding. Whatever floats your boat I guess.
Castaway Cay is pretty impressive - Disney is the 8th wonder of the world imo. I'd recommend it if and only if your kids are 7 or 8 and under.

rootsminer said...

That is cool - what a great thing to do for those girls!

My oldest got a bit of an ego bruise when he didn't make the top squad for next year, and he's responded by working his ass off, vowing to get back to that level. As crushed as he was at the time, it finally made him realize that he has to work for what he wants.

TR said...

Very cool, Rob-O.

Mark said...

That is really cool.

Good to know that my kid isn't alone in how lazy she is. My stepdaughter made varsity lacrosse as a freshman, garnered a fair amount of playing time and scored a handful of goals. She's responded to this initial success by not even looking at her lacrosse stick since the season ended.

zman said...

Accomplished game show host/reality TV star and less accomplished President of the United States of America is going after a 25-year-old woman named Reality Winner? You cannot make that up--I assume Omarosa is next.

mayhugh said...

Mini-vacation that was supposed to start tomorrow in jeopardy due to weather at the destination. Wife and I already took the time off of work and are trying to find an alternate destination on short notice. Anyone have any recommendations for something within driving distance (4 hours or less) of northern VA? We have the Burg, VA Beach, Ocean City and Annapolis on our list so far...

Whitney said...

Meister Mayhugh, if VA Beach ends up being the call, I can give you some eat/drink/play rec's and give you locales to hit/avoid.

zman said...

Camden is lovely this time of year.

rob said...

charlottesville is a cool place, especially with students gone

Whitney said...

Nice subtle dig at UVA students.

mayhugh said...

Whit - VA Beach is leader in the clubhouse. Fire at will.

Whitney said...

Ok, briefly...

Lodging - I'd go with the Hilton. Get a high up room with an ocean view. There are other good hotels but this one stands out. Until they reopen the Cavalier. Nicest hotel in south Hampton Roads is now in Norfolk, opened in March. Five star Hilton that feels like a bigger city joint.

Dining

Breakfast at Doc Taylor's.
Lunch at Route 58 Deli or grab sandwiches at Taste Unlimited and go to the beach.
Dinner at Eurasia, Zoe's or Terrapin for $$$
Drinks at Catch 31 in Hilton, Pacifica, Chix, Waterman's (drink an orange crush), Murphy's, Tautog's, etc

Way more. If you pull the trigger let me know.

Whitney said...

And I just reached out to a couple of VB dudes and got updated recs. There's even newer lodging to be had. Just let me know.

rob said...

taking my kid and a friend to see chance the rapper in balmer tonight. racking up serious dad points this week.

Whitney said...

I paid for my daughter to go with her friends last Saturday. Not as good a dad.

TR said...

I'm beginning to think the Jets are not going to contend for the Super Bowl this year.

Dave said...

that's awesome! i made it all the way to the photo of riley . . . those guys are great. i'm worried about my travel team in the fall, one of my best players is going back to pakistan. the nerve!

i have a skilled soccer son who is a bit lazy, and another who is probably of equal skill-- maybe slightly more-- but has that crazy competitive bug so that he's hustling every play, fucking people up, hammering kids, and generally causing menacing chaos wherever he goes on the field. he's also willing to take on three kids when he has the ball. it's amazing the difference between them, even though they can both juggle a ball forever, play with both feet, and act composed with the ball in traffic. one kid has no impact on the game, and the other dominates.